Layla Dragneel: Dragon God
by JustAnotherFairy
Summary: Five years ago the second child of Natsu and Lucy was killed in a horrific accident, so when a girl baring resemblance to their deceased friend shows up with strange magic abilities , naturally the Fairy Tail mages are curious. *Next Generation*
1. Layla's first job

**Tears are words the mouth can't say nor can the heart bare.**

**― Joshua Wisenbaker**

* * *

**Chapter 1: Layla's first job**

"Igneel...Igneel!" Layla Dragneel shouted as she ran through the guild hall, she continued pushing through the brawl that her own father had started and ran over to her older brother, who was sat at the bar with Marvin Dreyar and Cadence Fullbuster.

Fourteen year old Igneel had his mother's blonde hair and calm personality however had his father's dark eyes, as he didn't really get the hang of Dragon Slaying magic he learnt his mother's instead, allowing his younger sister to take after their father in more ways than one.

Like her mother, fifth teen year old Cadence had dark blue hair, however had mastered the same type of magic as her father, since she couldn't master her mother's water based one.

Fifth teen year old Marvin Dreyar, had his mothers sapphire eyes, whilst inheriting his father's blonde hair, however the oldest of the Dreyer siblings learnt take over magic rather than adding to the ever-growing number of dragon slayers.

Igneel laughed at his younger sister's appearance, only this morning their mother had attempted to make Layna appear to look like a girl, by placing her wild salmon hair in hair ribbons and forcing her to wear a dress only the hyper active twelve year old to turn a once yellow dress into a dusty gray one and for her wild hair to hang loose on her shoulders.

"Look!" Layna exclaimed excitedly as she pulled at the collar of her dress, revealing a fairy tail guild insignia, just below her collar bone and the same colour as their mothers.

"You know Layna, that's going to become an awkward place when you're older" Marvin pointed out as he tried to stifle a laugh.

Layla tilted her head to the side in confusion and narrowed her eyes.

"What do you mean, Marvin?" She asked

Marvin suddenly turned red, causing the two older teenagers to laugh, leaving Layla even more confused.

"He's talking about when you get boobs!" A voice shouted, Layla turned around to find her best friend and fellow tomboy, thirteen year old Ebony Redfox.

The dragon slayer in training had inherited her father's wild dark hair, which she held in place in a high pony tail and a slightly lighter complexion to his own, with her mothers hazel/gold however much to her displeasure she also inherited her height.

"Ebony!" Cadence hissed as she gave her friend a playful nudge.

"Well he was too chicken to say boobs; it isn't like the girls here are walking around with their tops off..." Ebony paused for a second to turn back to Cadence "Well except you"

Cadence groaned, and Marvin almost fainted.

Unfortunately for her she had inherited her Fathers stripping habit; her parents' had hoped that she would grow out of it when she passed her toddler years, however that wasn't the case.

"Eww, Cadence took off her clothes again!" Rowen giggled, causing Wendy to quickly cover her young son's eyes.

"See, Layla, I told you that this guild is crazy" The raven haired mage smiled as she placed an arm round her younger friend's shoulders.

Layla flashed a toothy grin

"Isn't it wonderful?"

Her focus quickly landed on one of the tables, where her other friend, eleven Gale Redfox was sat alone reading; like his mother the younger Redfox sibling had developed a love for books, allowing himself and Layla to become good friends.

Since his older sister had found it easier to learn their father's magic, Gale decided to learn tier mothers.

"Hey little brother!" Ebony shouted, causing her younger brother to roll his eyes.

"You know, Ebony we are the same height, in fact I may be a few inches taller than..." the blue haired boy started only to be stopped by his sister's low growling

"You better stop there, or Mom and dad will only have one child..." Ebony growled, causing Gale to chuckle then turn his attention back to his book.

"Gale, watchya reading?" Layla asked in a singsong voice as she took a seat opposite the blue haired boy.

Gale's crimson eyes moved their focus from the book to Layla as he placed the book down on the table.

"Just a book on metals..." He stated

Ebony's eyes lit up as leant over the table to get a closer look at the book.

"Do you have anything new at your house that I can read?" Layla asked a smile on her face.

Gale shook his head, causing her smile to fade.

"Sorry, Layla, you've already read all the books at our house..."

"Ohh.." Layla sighed, the salmon haired girl spent most of her time either at the guild or at the Redfox's residence and had already read all of the book in their possession.

"Quit moping already, and let's go and see if Full_bastard_ has learnt anything new!" Ebony exclaimed as she pulled Layla by the arm outside of the guild, Gale turned his focus back to his book.

* * *

Like his mother, thirteen year old Jaden Fullbuster had learnt water magic; he stood practicing the new spell that his mother had taught him on a tree, a drop of sweat fell from his dark hair and ran down his face.

"Fullbastard!" A voice shouted

Concentration ruined, Jaden turned Ebony and Layla; Layla was a year younger than him and to his understanding wasn't allowed by her parents to officially join the guild until she mastered some type of magic.

However that never stopped the salmon haired girl from attempting to fight the water mage.

"What do you two want?" Jaden asked, as he folded his arms, he concluded that it must have been something good since Layla had that same toothy grin on her face and Ebony was wearing that scary looking grin, that said 'I know something that's going to piss you off'

"Guess who joined the guild today" Ebony said, the scary looking grin still spread across her face.

He turned to face Layla, who's toothy grin was so wide it looked as if she was about to explode.

"Let me guess, it's you Layla" Jaden said with a straight face, causing Layla to giggle and clap her hands like an infant who had just discovered the joys of peek-a-boo, he sighed as he concluded that Layla Dragneel had the mentality of a five year old.

"Yeah, I joined today" She said as started to fiddle with the collar of her dress, only to be stopped by Ebony.

"Okay, I think we had enough flashing for today"

Jaden raised a brow in confusion

"Don't you know you're own sister?" Ebony asked causing Jaden to nod in understanding.

"I want to go on a job!" Layla said excitedly as she hung by her arms from a tree.

"On your own?" Ebony asked "You know that your parents wouldn't let you"

Layla jumped down from the tree, landing on her feet with liquid grace.

She gasped as her attention landed on a cluster of purple flowers, she picked up one , with a smile.

The smile she wore on her face instantly caught Jaden's attention, it was a smile he had never seen before.

It wasn't the usual toothy grin she wore this was something genuine, something pure, something... beautiful.

"Azaleas!" She gasped, this girl never ceased to amaze him, here she was covered in a rainbow of dirt , her hair messy and wild, and then suddenly she decides to stop and be a girl for five minutes to pick flowers.

"Yeah whatever your favourite flowers, now back to the subject!" Ebony sighed, causing Layla's mouth to form an 'o' shape before she could remember where she left off.

"Not by myself, with my brother and my friends..." Layla pointed out.

"hm, Igneel would only go if Holly does" Jaden pointed out in thought, as he tried to forget the smile Layla had.

"Yeah because he has a massive crush on her" Ebony said with a laugh

"No doubt Cadence will want to go" Jaden sighed as they started to walk back to the guild.

"We don't need so many of us, I mean I'm strong as hell" Ebony said with a smile, causing Layla to giggle and Jaden to roll his eyes.

"What can you do, have you seen your size?!" Jaden exclaimed as he reached to open the guild doors.

"What did you say?!" Ebony growled a dark aura appearing around her.

Jaden flashed a grin

"Ebony he said..." Layla started

"I didn't hear you form all the way down there" Jaden said with a laugh "How about you grow a few inches and say it to my-"

Jaden was cut off by Ebony punching him with an Iron fist, causing him to slam through the guild doors.

* * *

"You better apologise for that Fullbastard!" Ebony shouted as she proceeded to turn her other fist into iron.

The two young mages ended up in a mess of limbs on the ground, Layla thinking it as a game, decided to join in too by randomly punching the both of them with flame engulfed fists.

"To think that she just joined today and she's already in her first guild brawl..." Lucy sighed as she sat next to Levy who was also watching the action.

"They grow so fast" Levy said with a sigh

"I think that's enough!" A voice shouted, before an arrow landed in between the three mages, just missing Jaden's head.

They all turned to see Holly Fernandez, bow slung over her shoulder, dark blue bangs covering her eyes.

Like her mother, Holly learned re-quip magic except she specialised with bows and arrows rather than swords.

The three instantly froze.

"Who started this?" She asked her voice icy and it chilled the three of them to the bone.

Layla instantly shuffled away from Jaden and pointed at him.

"L-Layla!" He gasped, his skin a ghostly white from fear.

"Yeah it was Fullbast-" She paused as Holly sent a look of death her way "Fullbuster's fault, he started it"

Holly loaded her bow with another arrow, getting ready to strike at Jaden.

As much as she would have liked to see him hurt, Layla decided that she actually needed a live rival.

Taking a breath she decided to do something nice for the water mage and save his hide.

"Holly want to come on a job with me?" Layla asked, the distraction worked and caused Holly to place her arrow down and turn to face the salmon haired girl.

"Why not?" Holly asked "Who else is going?"

"Ebony, Jaden, Cadence and Igneel" Layla said smiling, the mere mention of the celestial mage's name caused Holly to blush.

"I don't know..." Holly said, unaware that Jaden was making a quick getaway behind her.

"Please..." Layla said with a pout as she pulled a puppy dog face, instantly causing Holly to resist and accept the offer.

Layla happily dragged Ebony over to the request board for the two of them to choose a job.

* * *

"Are you sure about this one?" Lucy asked as she read the request for the umpteenth time.

"Mom, don't worry with the five of us, Layla will be fine" Igneel said with a smile as he wrapped his arms around his younger sister.

"What do you mean me?" Layla asked as she wriggled out of Igneel' hold "I can take care of myself"

Lucy smiled down at her daughter, placing a hand under her chin so she could look at her.

"You know, Layla, this is your first job and I just want you to be safe"

"But Mom, I'm going to be with Omni-Chan and Ebie-Chan, they are really strong" Layla pointed out.

Jaden smiled at his Aunt Lucy, he remembered when he went with his sister, Igneel and Holly for his first job, his mother had acted fine about it in front of the guild, however Jaden felt as if there were a set of eyes watching him and could detect a magic similar to his own throughout the duration of the job.

Lucy turned to Natsu, who nodded at her with a smile.

"You can go but you" She pointed to Igneel "Make sure she stays out of trouble"

Igneel nodded his and started to get up, the others following him out of the guild, before Layla left she turned to Juvia a toothy grin spread across her face.

"Don't worry Auntie Juvia, I promise that Jaden will get home in one piece"

Juvia smiled for she knew that Layla Dragneel always kept her promises.

* * *

Igneel was almost out of magic energy, the creature that they were sent to apprehend had already destroyed half of a small town and in an attempt to prevent it from doing further damage, himself, Holly and Cadence lured the creature away from the town whilst Layla, Ebony and Jaden evacuated the civilians.

The creature was stronger than they had originally thought, already Holly had fired multiple arrows at it only for them to have no affect on it's tough skin.

Igneel had summoned Aries, who was using her wool to hold the creature back and give the mages some much needed respite.

"We can't keep this up, I'm already low on magic energy" Cadence said between pants.

Igneel nodded in agreement, he didn't know for how much longer he could keep Aries in the human world.

""Maybe if the others came back..." Holly started

Igneel shook his head

"I don't want the other's involved too much, this thing is strong" He sighed

And besides he promised his mother to keep Layla out of trouble.

"Hey guys!" Layla shouted as herself, Ebony and Jaden ran up the hill towards them.

"Jaden, what are you three doing here, you were meant to evacuate the civilians" Cadence hissed

"We did that and besides we wanted to help" Jaden said with a shrug of his shoulders.

"Fine but she stays back" Igneel said as he gestured to his younger sister, who folded her arms with a pout.

"It's for your own good" Holly said sweetly as she placed a hand on Layla's shoulder.

Layla gave the older girl a soft smile and then watched with a sigh as she rejoined the others to subdue the creature.

Igneel collapsed to the ground once Aries had disappeared back to the spirit world, the wool wall disappearing with her.

The creature took a step forward, getting ready to attack once more, however Cadence quickly entrapped it in an ice cage, using all her power to make sure that it stayed for as long as it could.

"Igneel!" Layla gasped as she ran over to her brother

"Lay, I'm fine..." He said between pants, causing her to frown.

Layla opened her mouth to speak once more however a shattering sound grabbed all their attentions, followed by a roar and then and ear piercing scream.

"Cadence!" Holly shouted as she ran over to her friend, Cadence struggled to stand, after taking a hit from the creature for she was severely injured.

"Layla, stay with her!" Holly shouted causing the salmon haired girl to quickly crawl over to her injured friend, you were never asked twice by Holly Fernandez.

Holly then turned to face Igneel, who had now summoned enough energy to get back into the battle.

"You okay to fight?"

She already knew the answer, for Igneel was a Dragneel and they never backed down from a fight.

"Of course" He said as he flashed a toothy grin and picked up one of his keys.

"Then get over here!" Holly shouted, causing Igneel to quickly summon a spirit that would help them.

Holly fired one of her arrows; it went straight into the creature's eye causing it to howl with pain.

She quickly dodged its claws before they could hit her, allowing Ebony to stab the creature with her arm that she had turned into a sword.

"Look they're winning!" Layla said excitedly to Cadence who smiled back with half closed eyes.

"Of course, we're Fairy Tail..." She said before she winced with pain.

Layla watched as the mages held their own against the creature and smiled at all their efforts.

She gasped as the creature picked up a tree, about to use it to hit her brother while he tried to get up, without thinking she opened her mouth.

"Fire Dragon's Roar!"

A large amount of fire escaped her mouth, burning the creature and causing it to drop the tree, Igneel turned to face her with an appreciative smile on his face, causing Layla to return a toothy grin.

"Look, I'm out of arrows" Holly panted, her knees weak all she wanted to do was lie down on the ground.

Layla quickly pulled the unconscious Ebony out of the creature's way before it could crush her, placing her next to Cadence.

"I have no energy left to summon a spirit" Igneel sighed placing Sagittarius' key back into his pocket.

Jaden currently had the creature in water lock however the young mage didn't know how long he could hold it.

"Maybe we could-" Holly started, only to be cut off by the creatures' screeching.

The force of the creatures' screech sent the mages flying in different directions.

Jaden was sent to the floor, whilst Igneel and Holly were sent flying into the forest.

The creature snarled, baring it's teeth in front of Jaden.

"Jaden move!" Layla shouted, only to receive a grunt from her friend.

"I can't!" He shouted back.

The creature raised it's clawed hand ready to strike.

Jaden closed his eyes, bracing himself for the impact.

Layla stood and ran as fast as her legs could carry her.

The impact never came.

When Jaden opened his eyes, what he saw was much worse.

He screamed yet no sound came out of his mouth.

He crawled over to her, her breaths and heartbeat quiet, red stained her once yellow dress.

He looked up and saw the creature standing over them, clawed hand raised, teeth bared.

"You bastard...!" A voice shouted

He saw a flash of black before a sword like hand pierced itself through the creature's stomach.

It screamed once before falling to the ground with a loud thud.

Revealing Ebony who stood behind with its black blood staining her hand and her tears staining her face.

"It doesn't hurt that much..." Layla whispered, as she placed her hand against the gaping wound the creature had left.

"You need to stop talking..."Ebony said, her voice thick with sadness.

"Where are Igneel and Holly?" Jaden asked, he remembered them getting thrown back by the monster, but he figured that the older mage would want to be by his sister's side.

"Lay-Chan, you need to stay awake!" Ebony shouted, no longer trying to hold back her tears.

Layla opened her mouth to speak, only no words came out, she slowly closed her eye lids, which caused Ebony to squeeze her hands tighter in an attempt to get her to open them again.

"Lay-Chan, please..." She pleaded, her voice sounding like a pleading child.

"Layla..." Holly shouted as her and Igneel walked over, her arm draped over his shoulder for support.

"Igneel, she's slipping..." Ebony sobbed.

Even without dragon slayer senses the silence was enough to hear the 'song of death' as Layla's heartbeat became weaker and her breaths short and un-even.

Igneel had fallen to his knees, Holly was crying into his chest, Cadence was now awake and comforting Ebony while Jaden sat and only with his thoughts.

All he could think of was the way she smiled when she found those azaleas, a silent tear rolled down his face once he realised that he would never see that smile again.

* * *

**Just wondering what you guys thought of that**

**Should it be placed into the fiery depth never to be seen again?**

**Please tell me what you think**

**JustAnotherFairy :)**


	2. Five Years

**A/N: I like made Laxus the new Guild master, it probably is a bit cliché but I did it anyway *evil laugh* I was debating whether or not to make Makarov dead or not as I'm not really sure how old he is, but I'll just make him retire as I can't bare to make him die. I tried to stay with the whole flower names for town theme and everything. **

**Enough of me now.**

* * *

**Chapter 2**

**Five Years:**

The five years that had passed had changed the guild dramatically, since one of their own; who everyone treated like a little sister, was gone everything changed.

Not only had Makarov stepped down, leaving Laxus to become the sixth guild master but the number of guild brawls had dropped significantly, mostly due to a grief stricken Natsu.

Ebony no longer had the creativity to come up with insulting nick names for her nakama, Gale wouldn't read in the guild anymore since the young mage was always reminded of Layla's sweet voice asking for something new to read.

Lastly Team Igneel wasn't as strong as they once were, the group of mages just couldn't bring themselves to go on jobs together as much as they used to, mostly due to the fact that Team Igneel would never be complete without Layla.

Jaden sighed sadly to himself; he sat alone at one of the tables thinking about the day.

Today would have been her birthday. She would have been seventeen.

He past five years, there was never a day where he didn't think of his friend.

The smile she wore when she found the azaleas was the smile that took over his dreams; and the sight of her lying in a pool of her own blood was the scene of his nightmares.

There was never a time where the young mage wasn't wishing that his friend hadn't jumped in front of him that day. There was never a time where he wished that she hadn't made the promise; the promise to make sure that he came home alive.

Glancing around the guild, everyone was in their usual attire for their lost friend's anniversary; everyone was in black, with an azalea strapped to a piece of their clothing. Her favourite flower.

Jaden always wondered why she loved them so much, there were the traditional favourites like roses and daises but she chose them, the flower that would only bloom during the season of her birth, the flower that would only bloom in spring.

"Jaden..." A familiar voice said.

He turned to find his sister, Cadence, many of the guild members would often comment that as the days passed she would take more and more after their mother, with the hair that curled at the ends and the same coloured eyes you had to agree with them.

"Are you coming?"

He glanced over to the group of his nakama that were gathering by the guild doors, he knew that they were soon getting ready to leave for the church to visit Layla, for it had become a tradition.

For the past five years on both the anniversary of her birth and death the guild members would go together to visit her.

And often on the important holidays the Dragneels would go together.

He remembered one Christmas eve the year she died, when Natsu and Lucy came running to the guild searching for Igneel, eventually after hours of searching, the blonde haired teen was found crying by his sisters grave. It turned out that every Christmas Eve the siblings used to wait up for santa together and Igneel never felt right waiting alone.

He glanced back up at his sister, she absently twirled a small azalea with her index finger and thumb.

"No..." Was all he said.

"But Jaden..." She started her eyes glassy from unshed tears, but he cut her off.

"I can't face her, not today"

"But Jaden, it's her birthday" She sobbed, causing many of the guild members to turn to face the siblings.

"Exactly, she would have been seventeen..." He sighed.

She placed the azalea on the table in front of him, his focus instantly zones in on the purple flower and the image of Layla smiling fills his mind. He turned away from the flower as if it is the one causing the pain.

"She would want you there" She whispered as she places a hand on his shoulder.

He sharply turns, causing her to remove her hand and take a step back.

"Don't tell me what she would have wanted" He snapped.

There was a silence throughout the guild.

"Cades, we're leaving" Igneel called as him and his parents started to head for the door.

Cadence turned to face Jaden, half expecting her brother to change his mind and go with the rest of them; however the look on his face told her others.

"Jaden..." She started however a hand on her shoulder stopped her, turning around she saw it was their father, Gray.

"Go join your mother outside" He said, his sister nodded and walked outside.

Gray turned to his son, taking a seat on the bench opposite them. He instantly looked at his sons face, the shiny eyes due to unshed tears and then at the discarded azalea.

He picked it up in his fingers.

"These were her favourites'...?" Gray asked as he twirled the flower between his fingers.

"Yeah..." Jaden said, not looking at his father.

There was a short silence between them.

"Jaden..." Gray started

"Dad, I can't go..." Jaden said his voice thick with sadness.

"I wasn't going to persuade you..." Gray stated, causing Jaden to turn and face his father with a confused look on his face.

"Why...?" he asked

"Everyone deals with grief in different ways, which still doesn't mean that you should blame yourself" Gray said

"How did..."

"How did I know?" Gray asked, taking the words from Jaden's mouth.

Jaden nodded his head.

"You are your mother's son" Gray said with a smile, causing a soft smile to form on Jaden lips.

"Thanks dad" Jaden said as he stood up

"Don't worry about it" Gray said before he left the guild.

* * *

Once his father and the rest of the guild members had left for the church, Jaden left for Magnolia station. The mage just couldn't bring himself to face them, to face Layla's family.

He had always felt guilty whenever he saw their tears, when he saw her mother place the azaleas down on the grave stone. Even on numerous occasions Igneel had reassured him that he wasn't to blame and that it was just an accident he couldn't help but feel responsible.

_The creature was lying on the ground, Ebony's cries of anger could be heard as she continued to beat it with her arm which she had turned into an iron club._

_Tears were falling down her face and landing in the ground, her iron club was getting stained with the blackness of its blood._

"_Ebony...stop..." Igneel whispered, his arm was around Holly as she continued to wipe away her tears. Ebony continued her assault on the dead creature, striking it like a woman possessed._

"_Ebony, it won't bring her back..." Cadence whispered her voice breaking from the tears._

"_But Lay-Chan..." Ebony whispered as she fell to her knees._

"_She's not hurting anymore..." Cadence said, causing Ebony to burst into tears._

"_It's okay" Cadence cooed as she wrapped her arms around their friend, rubbing her back softly._

_Jaden lowered his head, causing his tears to fall straight to the ground, he couldn't believe that earlier that day, himself, Ebony and Layla were play fighting like normal...and no, his salmon haired friend was lying motionless on the ground, with the light gone from her one warm brown eyes._

"_Jaden..." Igneel said his bangs covering his eyes and giving the older mage a dark look._

_Holly raised her head from Igneel's chest and glanced up at her friend._

"_Igneel..." She whispered_

"_Not now Holly" Was all he said before letting go of her and walking over to Jaden._

_The young mages all glanced over at Igneel, never before had the boy looked so dark._

"_Igneel..." Cadence said in a warning tone as he walked over to her brother._

_Jaden glanced up as Igneel stoof in front of him, his shadowed face giving him a dark appearance._

"_I'm sorry..." Jaden whispered his voice barely audible. Igneel raised his hand. Holly ran over to try and stop him. Jaden closed his eyes for the impact. Ready to take the blow that he thought he deserved._

_He opened his eyes, glancing at his shoulder, where Igneel's hand was placed. The young mages stood shocked at Igneel's reaction._

"_There's no need..." Igneel whispered_

"_What?" Jaden asked, he wanted Igneel to hit him, to be angry at him, to blame him._

"_You where with her, she wasn't alone and for that I'm grateful..." Igneel explained, causing Jaden's tears to fall._

"_Ebony, I don't suppose you could help me?" Igneel asked, Ebony turned to face the older mage nodding._

"_What do you need?" She asked, half expecting Igneel to ask something normal._

"_I need you to turn your arm into an axe and cut down a tree.." He stated, causing Eony to rais a brow._

"_Igneel...?" Cadence asked_

"_Wait and see, Cades" He sighed as he lead Ebony to the forest._

_The sound of metal hitting wood could be heard of where they sat, and not long later the loud thud as a tree hit the forest floor._

_More cutting noise was heard and eventually Ebony and Igneel emerged from the forest with two planks of wood._

_With Ebony's help, they nailed the wood together in a crucifix shape. Pulling out one of her arrows from the creature's skin, Holly used it to engrave the words 'LAYLA DRAGNEEL' _

_Standing back they glanced at it._

"_I just can't believe that she's gone..." Cadence whispered._

A sudden bump from the train, caused Jaden to be dragged back to reality, reaching into his pocket he pulled out a slightly wilted azalea.

"I hate trains..." a familiar voice groaned, causing Jaden to get up and find out who the voice belonged to.

Walking down the aisle he spotted a small form, curled up into a ball in one of the booths. The small person was getting strange looks from the other passengers as it continued to groan about trains being the invention of Zeref himself. The small form shifted position slightly revealing a waist length mane of raven hair. He recognised the wild hair anywhere.

"Redfox...?" He asked, causing the small form to sit up slowly, revealing a green faced Ebony Redfox.

She wasn't dressed in her normal tomboyish attire but in a long black dress, even though she was sitting up, the dress still complemented her figure nicely. Tucked behind her ear was a pink azalea.

"Shut up Fullbastard" She groaned, before placing her head on the table.

Jaden laughed, even though today was a day of grief, Ebony still didn't cease with the nicknames.

The five years, didn't do much for the eldest Redfox, apart from the sudden growth in her hair, everything else stayed relatively the same. She managed to grow a couple of inches, making her the same height as her mother, however compared to her younger brother and father she was still the shrimp of the house.

"What are you doing here?" Jaden asked, the iron dragon slayer hated everything to do with transport so it was unusual to see her on a train. It was also Layla's birthday, meaning that she should have been at the church with the rest of the guild.

"Following you, you idiot!" She growled before she picked up her brown bag to throw up in.

"Why are you following me?" Jaden asked

Ebony placed the brown bag on her lap, and took a sip of her water then turned to glare at him.

"You think that I'm just going to let you walk off alone and get all depressed...?" She exclaimed, quickly grabbing the brown bag before she threw up on herself.

"Wait. I thought you hated me?"

She placed the bag on her lap once more

"I never said I hated you, I just despised you" She stated matter-of-factly. He smiled at the big words she was using, most likely learned from Gale.

"And anyway she would have wanted me to make sure that you were okay..." She sighed before she threw up in the bag once more.

Even though he fought with Ebony they were still, sort of, kind of friends.

While Ebony passed out on the train he couldn't help but smile about how glad he was that he wasn't alone. Comfort came from the weirdest of places.

Once the train ride to Boronia had ended, Ebony wasted no time with jumping off the train, declaring that next time she followed him she would walk. He smiled as she said' next time'meaning that he had a guardian iron dragon slayer to keep watch of him.

The pair walked silently up the hill; they hardly ever visited Boronia- the town where Team Igneel had taken Layla for their first job, since the town brought on too many sad memories. Jaden was somewhat surprised at how quiet Ebony was as they walked through the forest, she hadn't tried to punch him or even called him any names. Glancing back at the said mage, she had her hands gripping the hem of her long dress to prevent it from getting dirt on it, there was a sad look in her eyes, most likely due to remembering what had happened five years ago.

They reached the clearing; the middle of it still had the crucifix that Igneel had placed five years ago. The wood was rotting in places and the writing where Layla's name was written had long faded.

Ebony was kneeling down by the crucifix, the raven haired girl not too fazed about getting her dress dirty.

"Jaden..." She whispered, causing him to turn to face her. He suddenly realised two things; one she called him by his name, his _real_ name and two she looked generally scared. Ebony Redfox was never scared. Meaning that something was wrong.

"What's wrong...?" He asked as he knelt beside her on the damp grass. She opened her hand out to him revealing a freshly cut purple azalea.

"Ebony it's an azalea, someone must of put it there..."

"Exactly it's fresh..." She said, handing the flower to him.

"Igneel or one of the others must have come up yesterday" He suggested, however he knew that it was unlikely; if Igneel or any of the others wanted to visit the place where she died, they would have mentioned it so the whole of Team Igneel could go together, as if to almost re unite Team Igneel one last time.

"No they couldn't have, these where put here today" " She said, a dark expression on her face.

"Then who put them there?" Jaden asked, the clearing wasn't exactly a popular place to go, not many people came this way, due to massive drop of the cliff close by, and the fact that there wasn't much to see. So who ever put the flowers here knew, they knew what she liked, they knew someone had died here.

"Jaden, they smell like her" Ebony stated, causing Jaden to raise a brow, who was _her_?

"They smell like Layla"

* * *

**Sorry to end it on a cliff hanger, but I am addicted to them :/**

**What did you think of that?**

**Please let me know **


	3. Azaleas and Glares

**Chapter 3**

**Azaleas and Glares:**

* * *

Previously:

_So who ever put the flowers here knew, they knew what she liked, they knew someone had died here._

"_Jaden, they smell like her" Ebony stated, causing Jaden to raise a brow, who was her?_

"_They smell like Layla"_

* * *

Jaden just stood speechless, never taking his eyes of the fresh azalea in his hands. He placed the flower back to the ground then turned his focus to Ebony. He couldn't believe that she would do this, couldn't believe that she would try to give him false hope. Layla was dead, that was a fact, so there was no way that the flower could have her scent...was there?

"Ebony, how could you do this...?" He asked his voice barely a whisper. Ebony turned towards him, her once saddened face now wearing pure anger and confusion.

"Me...All I did was say, it smelt like her!" She shouted as she stood up.

He couldn't believe what Ebony was doing, other than the Dragneel's, she was the closest person to her and now she was ruining the memories of Layla, giving him hope that he would see that smile again.

"Bullshit! What is this to you some sick joke?" He shouted the anger clear on his face. Ebony took a step back, shocked that Jaden would even assume that she would even do such a thing, and for a moment there he swore that he saw genuine hurt on her face.

She turned her back on him, her arms folded, causing a silence to start between the mages.

Sighing he placed a hand on her shoulder, she easily swatted it away as if he where some sort of pest.

"Ebony, I..." He started

"You aren't the only one who wishes things played out differently..." she whispered before she took off for the forest.

It didn't take too long to find her; even without the dragon slayer senses Jaden could easily hear the soft sobs of Ebony as she sat alone in the forest. She was sat down at the foot of a large tree, her knees against her chest as she hugged herself tightly. Walking slowly up to the dragon slayer, he placed a hand on her knee, causing her sobbing to stop as she lifted her head to face him.

"Sorry..." He said

Ebony shuffled slightly, turning her back on him once more.

"You should be..." She said between sniffles.

He shuffled over so he could face her, only for the stubborn dragon slayer to turn her head the other way.

"You know, avoiding me won't help" He stated matter-of-factly, causing Ebony to growl.

"You can't just expect me to forgive you, not after what you said" She growled, causing him to stiffen slightly, he knew that Ebony was right; however the shock of the entire situation, along with his emotions from the day had caused him to think irrationally and react the way he did.

"But the flowers, they couldn't smell of her..." he started only to be cut off by a growl from Ebony.

"So you're saying that I'm a liar as well as a sick person?!" she shouted, causing him to loudly sigh.

"No..." He sighed as he ran a hand through his hair, _why was this girl so stubborn_.

"Then what are you saying? Because now I have every reason to punch you" She snapped and he didn't doubt her threat for a second. He sighed and turned to face her, he was staring intensely at him as if awaiting his explanation.

"Layla has been dead for five years; her scent couldn't possibly be on fresh azaleas..." He explained. She sat there in silence for a second, just staring at him intensely as if trying to figure him out.

"So you're saying that I'm crazy too...boy you really need to work on your apologies" Ebony hissed, breaking the silence.

"Ebony..." he started, only to get interrupted by dragon slayer.

"You aren't the only one who wished that things played out differently, that...that could have done something..._anything_, the sleepless nights, crying yourself to sleep..."

"Ebony I..."

"How could you think I would do something like that?!" She exclaimed as she sat on her knees, wiping away the tears that threatened to fall with the back of her arm.

She waited for an answer but Jaden sat in silence.

"She was my best friend, Jaden" she whispered, as she slowly sat back down, bringing her knees to her chest and buried her face in them.

Jaden sat there sure of what to say, unsure of what to do. Those flowers, this forest, this town brought back too many memories for the two of them and Jaden wondered why he even visited. He felt a pang of guilt for even accusing Ebony of placing the azaleas by the crucifix, however he was just looking for an explanation, for someone to blame. When Ebony had mentioned the scent, something inside him snapped, the water mage was certain that he had moved on, that he had let go however the scent on the azaleas just shoved the past five years back in his face, it gave him false hope.

"You think you can track it?" He asked, casing Ebony to raise her head with a confused expression.

"You just expect me to drop down and help you?" She snapped before she got ready to turn and leave.

"Don't pretend that you don't want to find out" He called after her, Ebony stopped in her tracks and slowly turned back around to face him. "I saw your face when you found the flowers"

She walked up to him a dark aura surrounding her, poking his chest hard with her index finger.

"I'm only helping you because I want to know who this scent belongs to, but if you ever pull a stunt like that again...I will slice off your balls and make you eat them" She hissed.

Jaden let a breath he didn't even know he was holding, and once the dragon slayer had stopped poking him, he placed a hand to spot where she assaulted him, sighing as he knew that when morning came a large bruise would form.

"Don't just stand there like an idiot, and hurry up!" Ebony shouted from further ahead. Jaden quickly walked after the dragon slayer, the two of them beginning their search for the scent.

* * *

Jade had come to the conclusion that Ebony Redfox was trying her best to make his life a living hell; the small mage purposefully chose the route with the dense amount of trees, which had the lowest of branches. Weaving between the trees and ducking beneath the low branches was no hard task for Ebony due to her small frame however this proved to be difficult, for a much taller Jaden the branches would constantly smack him in the face and every so often he would get a face full of leaves.

"You don't suppose we could...I don't know slow down!" Jaden panted as he narrowly avoided getting hit in the face by a large tree. Ebony slowed to a walk, a small smirk on her face as she turned to face the water mage.

"Fullbastard, if you want I can just leave you here and carry on by myself" Ebony suggested as she started to walk ahead once more.

"If you leave me here, who's going to protect you if you run into trouble" Jaden said with a smirk, which only earned himself a warning growl from the dragon slayer. Once he had walked up to where Ebony once was she quickly pulled on one of the low branches towards her, once Jaden was standing not too far away from it she released it, causing to smack against face.

"Ah...Ebony!" He hissed, as he quickly placed a hand to his throbbing face, looking between his fingers he saw Ebony clutching her stomach in laughter.

"Oops it slipped..." She said with mock sweetness once she had recovered from her laughing fit.

Jaden sighed mentally making a note to himself to get revenge on the dragon slayer.

"You know some would say that finding joy in others pain is a bit-" He stated, however Ebony placing her hand in the air stopped him. Wondering what her gaze was focused on he slowly walked up to her, only to see nothing in front of them. Coming to the conclusion that the dragon slayer had lost it, Jaden sighed and started to turn when suddenly he heard it, a snap of a twig.

Ebony started to walk ahead toward where the sound came from; Jaden noticed that her body was kept low to the ground and her movements quick yet cautious and calculated like a predator stalking prey. He mimicked her movements, which proved to be difficult since unlike her, his father didn't specialise in stealth, so he knew for sure that he looked ridiculous.

Ebony came to sudden stop, not yet standing at her full height but her body wasn't as low as it was before, she stood partially hugging a large tree with her head poked out the side. Jaden stood behind her suddenly spotting the figure ahead. Draped around the figure's shoulders was a large cloak, making it difficult to decipher whether it was male or female, all that was seen were the heels of their feet as they poked out the back of their sandals due to its back was facing them.

"Does it have _the_ scent?" Jaden whispered to Ebony, her head still facing the figure her only response was a nod.

They kept their focus on the figure for a few more minutes; Ebony was certain that from their hiding spot they wouldn't be spotted thanks to the dense amount of trees and the lack of wind.

The figure suddenly pulled of the cloak and what was revealed caused Jaden to barely hold back a gasp. The pair came to the realisation that the figure was indeed female after placing the cloak down,

But that wasn't what surprised them, what surprised them was the salmon hair that cascaded down her shoulders that was placed in a high pony tail and the slightly tanned skin tone, as she turned around they caught a flash warm brown eyes as she scanned the area.

"Ebony she looks so much like her..." He sighed only to get no response from the dragon slayer, looking around he noticed that she wasn't there.

"Ebony!" He whispered loudly once he noticed the dragon slayer walking towards the nameless salmon haired girl.

"Ebony!" He whispered loudly once more only to get no response from her; she only continued walking towards the nameless girl.

The bushes rustled once Ebony passed them, the sound causing the nameless girls focus to shift to the area, she froze once she spotted him smaller mage approaching her and started at her wide eyes. Her posture shifted as if on high alert causing Ebony to take a step back. The nameless girl tilted her head to the side with confusion, wondering what the mage's motives where.

"Layla...?" Ebony whispered, her voice thick with a mixture of emotions; sadness, confusion and hope. The nameless girl's eyes widened even more and there was a pregnant pause between the mages. Then suddenly like a deer in the head lights the nameless girl was gone.

"Wait!" Ebony shouted as she readied herself to chase after her, only to be stopped by Jaden pulled at her wrist, she desperately tried to wriggle free of his hold but her efforts where in vain.

"Ebony, we can't..." He sighed sadly.

"But ...it could have been her!" She exclaimed, her eyes watering. He shook his head sadly, only this only made Ebony angrier as she yanked her wrist out of his hold and stormed off away from him.

* * *

Running through the forest wasn't as easy as it looked, the nameless girl found it difficult to avoid the sharp branches and every so often would fall victim to pieces of clothing getting snagged on branches or her skin getting scratched. However she kept running and ignored the pain, she barely avoided running face first into a tree, when her thoughts once again drifted to the two mages she had met moments before, something about them seemed...familiar.

Suddenly coming to a stop she bent over placing her hands on her knees as she struggled to catch her breath, something about them was similar to the faces of the people who had haunted her dreams and her nightmares.

She heavily sighed knowing that if her adoptive father, Sinclair was still around he would have been able to tell her why the people seemed so familiar why she wanted to hug them...and that name they called her 'Layla'; something about the name ...she shrugged off the familiar feeling perhaps it just was the similarity to her own name.

Walking on she suddenly stopped once she spotted her name sake, azalea, picking up the small purple flower she smiled remembering the day she first got her name.

_She stood in the small living room, nervously fidgeting with her hands. The mud was gone now and so was the smell, the horrid smell of rotting flesh and sadness. She tried to usher away the feelings of loneliness and tried to forget the black and the walls of her wooden prison only it was too much and once again the tears threatened to fall. As if on cue, her saviour a man who had called himself Sinclair appeared, the smile he wore when she first saw him was still on his face and it caused his blue eyes to brighten and lines to appear at the corner of his eyes. He crouched down on one knee so he is at her eye level, his blue eyes searching her brown ones._

"_So child, tell me your name..."_

_She lowers her gaze to the floor, her salmon coloured bangs covering her eyes, she whispers back._

"_I...I don't know"_

_He sighs and then suddenly stands up, the movement causing her to look at him with curiosity._

"_Well I guess we should pick one for you" He said, the smile still on his face. He placed a finger to his chin in thought the nameless child still looking at him with big brown eyes. _

"_Sophie...?" He asks, only to receive a shake of her head in disapproval from the child. _

"_Hmm...Haru?" He asks, only to receive another disapproving shake of the head. Whilst he paces around the room the nameless child's attention quickly focuses on a vase of flowers. She gasps as she quickly walks over to them, admiring the many colours._

"_Azaleas'..!" She gasped as she picked one up, causing Sinclair to turn around and witness the child's smile as she admired the purple flower._

"_Azalea..." He whispered to himself_

"_Hmm?" The child said, looking up at Sinclair_

"_Azalea...you like that name?" He asked, almost afraid that he once again receive a disapproving nod._

"_Yep..." She said with a toothy grin, somehow the name sounded right._

* * *

Jaden suddenly started to feel uncomfortable as Ebony continued to send evil glare's in his direction, he shifted his place hoping that not being able to see her would help however it didn't as he could still feel the intensity of her glare.

"Jaden, what did you do now?" Cadence asked as she took a seat opposite him, arms folded out in front of her.

"Cades_ I_ did nothing wrong..."Jaden said before he glanced back over to Ebony who was still glaring at him.

"Well that doesn't explain why Redfox over there is giving you the 'evil eyes'" Cadence said "And besides this looks serious...almost emotional"

He sat up, bow raised, he knew that Cadence had gotten better at 'reading' people, she could tell by body language alone how a person was feeling however whenever she 'read' him it never ceased to surprise him.

"You know Cades I hate it when you do that" Jaden said with a smile.

"What?" She asked which earned her another smile from her brother.

"When you read people" He pointed out, causing his sister to smile.

"Oh that, I just find it easy to read people...you know you probably are the easiest to read" She said however with the last part she added a smirk.

They sat in silence for a moment before Cadence stood up to leave.

"You can tell me later...if you want" She said before she left.

Despite the emotions that the day brought everyone was acting pretty cheerful; and not looking at it as another year Layla missed it was an opportunity to celebrate the life she had.

The guild was starting to slowly return back to their old selves, which mostly meant that the guild brawls had once again started. Cana and Stella were having a drinking contest only Gale was certain that the fifth teen year old would lose despite having her mother's genes.

Igneel and Lucy both sweat dropped as Holly and Erza both argued over Erza's love of cake whilst the rest of the guild member happily enjoyed the day. However one thing wasn't normal and that was his sister glaring Jaden Fullbuster, Gale knew that the two never did get along but the intense glaring was unusual even for Ebony.

"You've glared at Jaden for the past twenty minutes...is something wrong?" Gale asked as he placed his empty glass down at the bar.

"Tch. I don't need a reason to glare" She growled before she took a bite out the iron pipe she had concealed in her dress, causing her brother to shake his head whilst wondering why his sister couldn't just carry around a purse like normal girls.

"Well you've glared at him more than usual, so he must have done something..." Gale concluded.

"Gale, I'm not some _stupid_ book that you can study, so can you just drop it" She snapped before taking another bite of the iron pipe. Now Gale knew that something definitely was wrong; never had Ebony insulted his love of books, because _she_ loved books too. Seeing a link Gale thought another question to ask his sister.

"How does my azalea look?"

Not facing him, still glaring at Jaden she only growled back a reply.

"_Stupid_"

Now Gale was certain that this wasn't about Jaden it was about _her. _For some reason she was angry at their lost friend. Getting ready to ask his sister another question he was suddenly interrupted at the arrival of Marvin Dreyar as he took a seat next to his sister and flung an arm around her shoulders.

"How's my favourite dragon slayer?" he asked, clearly not taking any notice of Gale's presence. Ebony glanced over at Marvin's arm as it hung over her shoulders; she turned to face him with a growl.

"Get your fucking hands off me..." She growled as pushed his arm off her shoulders. Gale could barely hold back a laugh at Marvin's look of 'hurt' at Ebony's display.

"Aw Ebs, don't be like that...I was only playing" He said as he reached for her shoulder once more, only for Ebony to slap his hand away.

"Well I wasn't and I'm not going to tell you again to leave me the fuck alone" Ebony snapped before turning away. Marvin smirked clearly taking Ebony's response as a challenge, as he readied himself to approach her once more.

"Marvin..." Gale said in a 'touch her and she'll kill you' tone only for the blonde dragon slayer's smirk to return once more and for Gale to come to the conclusion that Marvin was crazy.

"At least let me have a hug..." He said as wrapped his arms around the smaller mage, which was the last straw. Before Marvin or Gale could register what was happening, Ebony swiftly elbowed Marvin in the stomach, knocking the wind out of him and sending him to the floor. Stepping over the blonde mage's body she walked out of the guild, the doors slamming closed behind her.

"You know you asked for it" Gale told the blonde dragon slayer, which only earned himself a moan. Getting up he set out to follow his sister.

And leaving the rest of guild to wonder 'what the hell just happened'

* * *

**Ah sorry I didn't like update for a while I feel terrible**

**So um what did you think of that**

**I'm not sure what I thought of it**

**Let me know **

**JustAnotherFairy :)**


	4. Just a hallucination

**Chapter 4**

It wasn't long after Gale returned to the guild, in trying to keep his talk with Cadence quiet he spoke with a hushed voice, however with four dragon slayers in the room all with enhanced senses the task proved to be difficult. As soon as his father had heard the words 'Boronia' and 'Layla' in the same sentence he was up in Gale's face demanding to know what was going on. Gale sighed, running a hand through his short locks, an unreadable expression painted on his face.

"Ebony thinks she saw Layla..."

The statement caught the focus of everyone in the guild and they all turned to face the blue haired teen. Igneel stood shocked; he glanced over to his parents' direction, hoping to get some sort of logical explanation from his mother, only she had the same expression he did. Shock was clear in her features, and her brown eyes were wide whilst her hands covered clasped over her face, before she could burst into tears his father placed an arm around her giving her no choice but to bury her face in his chest.

"The poor girl..." Mira whispered as she clasped her hand with her husband's, Laxus easily tightened his hold in Mira's hand, even though Layla wasn't related to him by blood he still felt that she was one of his children.

"What about Jaden...did he see her too?" Natsu asked, breaking the silence. Igneel glanced over to Jaden, his head was resting on his fist while he stared at nothing in particular, and noticing Igneel's gaze he turned to the celestial mage, sadness clear in his features as he gave a nod.

"Maybe it was just a...hallucination" Levy suggested the script mage trying to add some sort of logic to the situation. Gale sadly shook his head; he knew that the situation seemed impossible, when the small wooden box was placed in the ground, he was there, so a girl baring an uncanny resemblance to Layla was impossible.

"Ebony said that caught a sent..." Gale stated which caused many of the guild members to gasp.

"But Gale wouldn't a scent be non-existent in the area, since Layla...left us five years ago" Wendy said sadly as she pulled her young daughter closer towards her. Her daughter happily receiving her mother's embrace.

"Maybe she imagined the scent..."

"So you're calling my daughter crazy!"

"Gajeel, it could be possible...especially in this time of grief!"

"So you think that our daughter's crazy too!"

"Don't raise your voice at Levy!"

"You're not in this conversation!"

"Gajeel I never-"

Igneel sighed as the guild members started to engage in a verbal battle, all throwing theories about what Ebony and Jaden had seen. Gale attempted to offer his perspective on things, however with no luck the script mage gave up. Glancing over to furthest table, Igneel noticed that Jaden was still calmly sitting alone however what caught the mage's attention was the small purple coloured flower that he twirled between his fingers. With a sigh Jaden tossed the flower into the middle of the guild hall, causing it to land with a silent thud.

Everyone silenced once the azalea landed in the middle of the room. Wendy's youngest child, Sora ran over to the flower, picking it up in her small hands. Handing it to her mother Wendy gasped as soon as the scent surrounding it hit her as she quickly stood up, her face pale.

"Mommy...?" Sora said as she placed her hands on her mother's knees, the small girl confused by her mother's reaction. Mira instantly noticed Wendy's pale face; she sat frozen as if not taking in any notice of her worried young daughter.

"Wendy, what's wrong?" Mira asked, worry clear in her voice. Wendy pointed over to the azalea which she had previously thrown to the floor.

"I...it has her scent..." She said, her voice barely a whisper.

Natsu picked up the azalea, his eyes widening as he took in the familiar scent.

"Where did you get this?"

Wendy still sat there frozen, unable to answer the question, Sora however did.

"Jaden threw it on the floor" She said happily, whilst pointing over to the silent water mage; which instantly caused everyone in the guild to turn towards him for an answer. Jaden turned to face the expectant guild members; a mixture of emotions on his face, the one that stood out the most was his sadness.

"And I got it from Boronia"

* * *

He couldn't possibly believe what was happening as he walked out of the guild, ignoring the thought in s head that told him to turn back and listen to Jaden's explanation. He carried on walking through the night, the spring time air cool against his skin however providing him familiar warmth.

As soon as Jaden mentioned Boronia Igneel walked out of the guild, afraid to hear anymore, he knew that when Ebony and Jaden arrived back to the guild that they were acting strangely, however the celestial mage just assumed it was nothing of high importance...how was he wrong.

Coming to a stop he found himself outside of Kardia, surrounded by the sleeping. A small smile ghosted his lips as he walked past multiple graves for he knew that when he was angry upset or just felt alone, he would always end up here...right next to her.

'_You know...you always did have such an impact on the guild...' _Igneel sighed to himself as his hand touched the cold gravestone. Azaleas of a variety of colours lay neatly arranged around the sides, they almost threatened to cover the tombstone itself. The Fairy Tail guild insignia stood proud at the top of the stone, just above her name as a silent reminder that she would always be part of them.

Needing some company, other than the large amount of dead people, Igneel reached for his keys, fishing out one in particular a midnight blue coloured key that sparkled in the moon light. Since he didn't want to separate his mother from her friends, Igneel collected keys of his own. Whereas her gold keys allowed her to summon spirits of the zodiac, Igneels midnight keys allowed him to summon spirits of the stars.

"Gate of the bright star: North!" he shouted, a bright silver/white light appearing before the white/blonde haired spirit was summoned. Her eyes, like silver coins brightened as she smiled at her master. Once the light faded she took a step forwards she gasped, noticing the soil around them and started to dust the soil off the bottom of her dress...only her efforts were in vain as with every step she took more soil tainted her silver dress.

"Master, why did you summon me here, it's so...dirty " She said before flicking off more soil from the bottom of her dress. He inwardly chuckled at the spirits germ and dirt phobia, however despite this she was one of Igneel's favourite spirits, her key was the first of the midnight keys that he had collected, the bright star was always reliable, strong and just someone to talk to.

"It is a grave yard, North" Igneel pointed out, which caused North to involuntary shudder.

"You know how I feel about dead people" She said with a shudder, spotting his saddened expression her mood softened and she placed a pale hand on his shoulder.

"Igneel, what's wrong?" North asked softly

Igneel sighed, twirling North's key between his fingers, he lifted his head to look up at her before he sighed.

"Ebony said that she saw her..."

North raised a brow, confused for a moment before Igneel gestured to the grave behind him. a silver light was emitted from her lifted hands, illuminating the dark stone to show the name on the grave.

"No wonder you're upset..." She said sadly, once she realised that the grave belonged to his younger sister. North never had the chance to meet Layla, since Igneel obtained her key not long after her death however this never stopped Igneel from talking about his sister to her or his other spirits.

"Yeah" He sighed

She tilted her head to the side with curiosity, usually her master was so easy to read; when he was happy he smiled, sad he frowned but now his brows her knitted together, his lips in a tight line and arms folded as he continued to stare at the grave.

"Unless..."She whispered

He turned to face her, one of his brows raised wondering where the spirit was heading with the conversation.

"Unless what?"

"...You aren't upset, you're jealous" she concluded, as she placed her hands on her hips.

His silence confirmed her suspicions as he turned his back on her once more to face the grave.

"You're jealous that Ebony saw her, yet you didn't..." she stated. Igneel just stared at her with a blank expression on his face, for he knew she was right.

It wasn't fair. He felt selfish that the thought even crossed his mind. He was angry. Angry that Ebony...even Jaden got to see her, even if it wasn't her, even if it was a hallucination like Levy had suggested, it was something. And it was something Igneel wanted to see.

"..."

Sensing her master's reluctance to talk North placed a hand on his arm, a small smile on her face once Igneel turned towards her.

"Igneel, it's okay, you can talk to me I am your friend"

"I know...I just don't feel like talking now" He sighed sadly.

She opened her mouth to speak once more, however the voice of someone familiar shouting his name caught both of their attentions.

"Igneel!"

Turning to face the direction of the voice he spotted Ebony running towards them her dark hair streaming behind her in the process. She came to a stop in front of the pair, a hand was placed flat on her chest in an attempt to calm her rapid breathing and her eyes closed. Once her eyes opened and her breathing was normal, her red tinted eyes and cheeks didn't go un-noticed by Igneel, giving her the appearance of having just cried however Igneel never questioned it.

"What are you two doing out here?" she asked, folding her arms over her chest.

North turned towards the pair, realising that the two needed to be alone and talk some things over.

She gave him a soft smile "Just summon me if you need me" and with that she disappeared back to the celestial spirit world.

Once North had left the two mages alone, Ebony turned to the older mage her lips were drawn in a tight line and her brows lowered.

"I guess Gale told you about Boronia..." She sighed.

"Yeah..."

There was a short pause as the mages silently stared at the grave.

"What did she look like?" Igneel asked.

"What" Ebony said Igneel's earlier question catching her off guard.

"What...did she look like?"

Ebony sighed before she took a step beside Igneel in front of Layla's grave, a silent tear leaving her eyes before dropping to the ground below.

"She looked a lot like your mom, but the hair ...just screams Uncle Natsu" She said, the last part with an added chuckle, which caused Igneel to smile at the comment.

"Igneel, do you think I'm crazy?" Ebony asked, the question causing is eyes to widen. He thought Ebony was a lot of things but crazy wasn't one of them.

"No...why?"

She sighed, running a hand through her wild raven hair "Gale seems to think that it was a hallucination...and Jaden doesn't think that it was her"

Never before had he seen the dragon slayer look so...broken. Even at Layla's funeral she had kept strong, never shedding a tear, never showing sadness. The way seeing Layla had affected her he had no doubts that what she saw was real.

"Ebony...I believe you"

She froze; the statement took longer that it thought for her to process.

"Y...you do?"

He nodded

"There's no use trying to find her now...if she was smart she would have covered her scent and tracks" Ebony explained, a frown playing on her face.

Igneel sadly nodded in agreement, even though Ebony was right part of him wanted to find her and bring her back to the guild...to bring her back to her family.

"Then we should head back to the guild...everyone's probably worried" he sighed as he placed a hand on her shoulder. He started to usher her towards the direction of the guild, however Ebony stopped and then turned to face him, one of those grins she used to wear as a child flashed across her face, which usually signified that the dragon slayer had a plan.

"But that doesn't mean that we can't search tomorrow..." she said, while she still sported the grin. Igneel nodded in agreement, liking the sound of this idea.

* * *

**:)**


	5. Rogue Mage

**Chapter 5**

Upon hearing the rumours of a dark guild emerging, Azalea had made her way to the small town of Lotus. The walk from Boronia didn't take too long and since she didn't fare too well on transportation, heading to the town on foot was by far the best option. She ensured to mask her magic power for getting tracked was the last thing on her mind and the run in with those two mages only forced her to take extra precautions. The one with the jet black hair had a similar power to her own which meant she had similar abilities; this caused Azalea to start masking her scent to make sure that no one could track her like the two mages did.

From the outside, Lotus didn't look like the sort of town to harbour a dark guild, however when the citizens were asked questions they became defensive and shifty and Azalea could help but wonder if they knew a lot more than they were letting on.

The town had no guild either which meant that the population of mages here was low and most of them moved elsewhere to join guilds.

Azalea found herself in a small bar and walking over to the counter she could easily sense that the bar man was a mage; pulling her hair out of its usual pony tail she took a seat at the counter.

"What does a girl have to do to get a drink around here?" She asked whilst leaning over the counter; smiling as she saw the bar man's reaction as she was sure that he got a good view of her cleavage from where he was standing and she had caught his attention.

"So what is fine woman like you doing here?" He asked, the way he was looking at her sent shivers down Azaleas spine and the salmon haired mage could barely hold back on punching the guy.

"Well trying to get a drink..." She stated matter-of-factly, which caused the man to laugh.

"I like your attitude; you say what you think...what can I get you?" He asked, leaning over slightly placing his folded arms on the counter. She inwardly cringed at the invasion of personal space however kept on the calm look.

"What would you recommend?" she asked sweetly. The bar man smiled and then pointed over at the sign behind him.

"Something pink, delicate yet forward and slightly exotic...Miami vice" He said seductively. Once his back was turned she gave another low growl, she was more angry at the fact that the bar man had described her hair as pink when the correct term was salmon.

Turning back towards her he placed the pink drink down with another one of those 'seductive' smiles.

"So..." He said leaning over the counter once more "I've never seen you around here before you must be new"

_One point to captain obvious _she thought before she was brought back to reality.

"Yeah I just came here for the scenery..." She easily lied

"What have you seen so far?" He asked leaning in a bit closer.

"Stuff" she paused for a moment to glance at the growing group of people at the counter "and do you get this _acquainted_ with your other customers?" She asked whilst gesturing to the group of unhappy people who had yet to be served. He merely ignored them and turned back to her with a smirk.

"Only when they look like you..."

She had to hold back a shiver just as long till she got what she needed from the barman and took in a deep breath.

"Know any good hang outs...you know for mages since there aren't many around..." She said while she 'absently' twirled a lock of hair around her finger.

"Well there is this one place..." He started he paused for a second to look around "But it's invite only and I'm not sure it's your kind of thing"

"Aww don't be like that...after all I thought we were getting along well..." She sighed as she leant in a little closer, she smirked when she saw the bar man swallow.

"Well maybe I can get you in..." He sighed

"If...?"

"If you put on a little something...something nice so I could see _more_ of you if you catch my drift?" he said with a playful smirk. Her eyes widened once she realised what the bar man was implying however keeping up the act she pulled a flirtatious smile and leaned in closely her lips next to his ear.

" I can do that and maybe later you can see even more of me" she whispered huskily before she got back to her original position. He once again swallowed and started to scribble something down on a piece of paper which he handed to Azalea.

"And come alone..." He said before Azalea turned and left...it looked like her work there was done.

* * *

It had rained in Boronia that day, and after five long hours of searching Natsu, Igneel and Ebony had yet again met a dead-end. The day after Layla's birthday, Team Igneel as well as Team Natsu headed to the town to search for any sign of the girl however came to no luck. As the days went on the mages started to lose hope believing it to be impossible. However only Natsu, Igneel and Ebony carried on searching, the three never losing hope.

The three mages took their seats over with their respective seats, Lucy offering Natsu a sad smile as he went over to their team and Holly offering one to Igneel.

"I guess you guys had no luck then..." Jaden sighed as Igneel took the seat next to him.

Ebony glared over at Jaden "Tell me, Jaden how did you figure it out?" She asked her voice thick with sarcasm as she ran a hand through her wet locks.

"Ebony..." Holly said in a warning tone, which only caused the dragon slayer to growl. Taking the growl as a challenge Holly narrowed her eyes at the said dragon slayer, her hand reaching for one of her arrows. Noticing her action Ebony clenched her fists, turning them into iron in the process, however before either mage could attack they were interrupted by the arrival of Cadence.

"Ebony, you guys are back!" She exclaimed excitedly as she flung her arms around the dragon slayer.

"Cadence, get off of me!" Ebony growled, the dragon slayer not one for having her personal space interrupted.

"Sorry..." Cadence said sadly as she withdrew her arms from Ebony, a sad look on her face.

"What has you so excited?" Igneel asked, hoping to lighten Cadence's mood. Her smile suddenly returned before she turned to face her brother.

"You mean you never told them?!" She gasped; the ice make mage looked as if she would burst from excitement.

"No..." Jaden said a bored expression on his face.

"Tell us what?" Ebony asked, clearly intrigued.

"Master gave us an important job...we get to catch the rogue mage!" She excitedly squealed however Igneel and Ebony only exchanged glances neither having an idea who this 'rogue mage' was.

"Don't tell me you don't know..." Cadence sighed.

"We don't..." Igneel said

Cadence sighed as she slammed the latest edition of the Sorcerer Weekly in front of him.

"Cades, you know that I don't read these..." Igneel sighed, as he pushed the paper away from him taking little interest in it.

Cadence only shoved the paper closer towards him and placed her index finger on a particular article, causing Ebony to peer over his shoulder.

"Look here...its talking about a rogue mage taking out dark guilds!" She gasped, causing Igneel to sit up and look at the paper.

"Hey is that the same mage that we have to go after?" Igneel asked once he took his eyes off the paper.

"I'm pretty sure it is...so imagine the reward that we're going to get!" Cadence exclaimed as she suddenly started day dreaming about all the things she was going to do with her share of the reward money.

"That is nonsense, Cadence...a rogue mage couldn't take down dark guilds on their own... and besides Master said that the number of mage doing the attacks was unknown" Holly pointed out as she proceeded to sharpen her arrows, which caused Igneel to shuffle away from her slightly.

"Well it says so here...and so far three up and coming dark guilds have been taken down and get this no traces of magic power were found at any of the scenes, weird or what?!" Cadence exclaimed which caused her friends to exchange glances. Holly pulled the paper away from Igneel and began reading it herself.

"Perhaps the mage can mask their magic power..." Holly suggested whilst never taking her eyes away from the article.

"But that would take a lot of skill..." Jaden added

"Yeah, skill that you don't have" Ebony said to the water mage with a laugh.

"Ebony!" Cadence gasped as she playfully nudged her friend for once again picking on her younger brother.

"Hey team Igneel..." A familiar voice said which caused the team except Ebony, who wasn't Marvin's biggest fan and loudly sighed, to turn around to face Marvin Dreyar.

"Hey Marvin, what's up?" Cadence asked sweetly

"I heard about the job da- I mean Master gave you guys" Marvin explained, before he threw one of his famous smiles at Ebony; however the iron dragon slayer took no notice she was till glaring at Jaden.

Holly nodded her head and placed down her now very sharp arrows.

"Yes it was a surprise for all of us"

Marvin sighed then moved to stand nearer towards Ebony, wearing one of his trademark flirtatious smiles. The guild members who noticed his changed suddenly groaned as they realised that yet again he was going to try one of his pick up lines on the dragon slayer. Feeling his shift in movement Ebony stopped glaring at Jaden and then turned to look at the dragon slayer, a bored expression on her face

"I just hope that when dad steps down he'll pass the position of Master to me"

"Why...?" Ebony asked the irritation of how close he was to her clear in her voice which caused the guild members to groan once more, for Ebony had just laded herself in it.

"If I was the master I wouldn't waste any opportunity to call you up to my office"

"Tch. Whatever" Ebony sighed before she pushed her way past Marvin and off towards her brother, leaving Marvin stood there, his mouth forming an 'o' shape, whilst the rest of the guild burst into a chorus of laughter.

"You know what you're doing isn't going to work on her" Igneel sighed before he followed the others.

"Why she is a girl" Marvin said matter-of-factly, the blonde dragon slayer was accustomed to women of all ages falling for his charms, just not Ebony Redfox.

"And besides she'll come around eventually"

"But she's Ebony Redfox, a whole new type of girl" Jaden stated before he followed the rest of the team

* * *

Once the team had taken their seats on the train, it didn't take too long for Ebony to fish out one of her brown paper bags and started emptying out the contents of her stomach inside it.

"I still don't understand why motion sickness is a dragon slayers weakness" Jaden sighed as he watched Ebony heave into the bag once more.

Holly placed arrows into her quiver before turning to face the water mage "I always thought that only the men suffered motion sickness..."

"Yeah..." Cadence said whilst nodding in agreement, she quickly looked down at herself and realised that she was only dressed in a sports bra and pants "has anyone seen my shirt...?"

"Stupid ice stripper girl..." Ebony growled before she heaved into the bag once more.

Igneel sweat dropped at his team-mate display; Ebony was throwing up into a bag, a topless Cadence was searching the train for her shirt, whilst Holly was sharpening her arrows which didn't go unnoticed by many passengers.

"Don't worry; the journey isn't that long..." Jaden sighed as he placed his head on the window.

Igneel face palmed, the mage wondering why he just didn't have a normal team.

* * *

Not too long after settling in the town of Lotus the team split up; Holly and Igneel going together and Cadence and Jaden going the opposite direction whilst Ebony went on her own to find information about a possible dark guild. Igneel couldn't shake the feeling that they were being watched, the towns' people weren't willing to share much which made the task difficult. All thoughts were ushered away once he and Holly arrived back in the inn.

"I guess that failed..." Holly said sadly as she took a seat at the edge of the bed.

"I just don't understand why the town is so...strange" He sighed as he placed his keys on the table.

"Maybe they're just" Holly started only to stop when loud banging was heard from the other side of the door. Igneel opened it up to show Cadence and Jaden. The ice make mage who unlike her comrades was wearing a happy smile.

"Hey guys...so how was it?" She asked cheerfully, to her amazement her only response was a groan.

"I hope you had better luck" Igneel sighed as he took a seat next to Holly; the extra weight being added to the bed caused it to bounce slightly pushing Holly closer to Igneel. The closeness caused both parties to blush which didn't go unnoticed by Cadence, whose inner fan girl started to squeal with delight.

"Well thanks to my stripping habit I got us into an all mage hang out" Cadence said happily.

"Mage hangout, how does that help us out?" Igneel asked confused, Cadence turned to her brother to help explain.

"Well it's supposed to be a hangout for rogue's and dark mages so maybe there we can get more info on this secret guild" Jaden explained

"Cadence, who knew that your strange habit would come in handy" Holly sighed as she walked over to her bags.

"Going somewhere like that could be risky..." Ebony sighed before she appeared on the bed.

"W...when did you get in?!" Igneel asked

Ebony just shrugged her shoulders as she pulled an iron pipe out from her top and took a bite out of it. "The window was open"

"Ebony is right" Holly stated, ignoring Igneel's shocked state "If we are going to head to this mage hang out we need to disguise ourselves" she explained as she pulled a dying lacrima out of her bag.

Cadence who had miraculously appeared in just her underwear started changing; she paused for a moment to look at Igneel and Holly.

"Aren't you two going to change?" she asked before she pulled a cut out shirt over her head.

Igneel and Holly both turned to face each other, both wearing identical crimson coloured cheeks.

"Well...I" Holly started

"Umm..."

"Guys if you are that worried that you'll jump each other; Holly should change in the other room" Ebony said before she left the room. Igneel and Holly just stared at each other, both of their faces the matching shade of red.

"You two always make me laugh" Jaden sated before he too left the room to change.

* * *

"We actually have to do this...?" Jaden asked before he shifted the collar of his dress shirt. The water mage had used a dying lacrima on his dark hair to turn it green since the tell all navy colour made it a bit too obvious who was father was. He further shifted the collar of his black shirt , its long sleeves were able to hide the guild mark on his shoulder.

"Yes we have to..." Ebony hissed, the petite mage feeling a bit uncomfortable in the way too tight black dress that clung to her like a second skin, highlighting every curve and contour of her body. She too had used a dying lacrima on her raven hair, to turn it lilac whilst she used a concealing cream to cover the guild mark on her upper arm.

Cadence looked at Ebony with a sad sigh, the water mage, didn't trust herself to wear a dress...not with her uncontrollable stripping habit, so she decided that it was best to place on multiple layers to avoid embarrassment "I don't know why you're so upset, Jaden, I have to wear all these layers..." she sighed, however she failed to notice that already her jacket was missing.

"Can we just go..."Ebony growled, her arms folded against her chest as she walked ahead with Cadence and Jaden.

"It looks as if Ebony is eager to get this over with..." Igneel sighed as he ran a hand through his now spiky blue hair.

"Yeah...but I don't blame her, the girl isn't too used to wearing a dress" Holly said with a smile. She absently pushed a lock of now blonde hair behind her ear as she quickened her pace to keep up with Igneel.

"I don't suppose you know any dark guild around here?" Ebony asked as leaned over the counter slightly, her face drifting closer to the barman's.

Her friends watched from a distance at Ebony's display, all of them not expecting to see their tomboyish friend to become so flirtatious.

"I think she's getting lessons from Marvin..." Cadence giggled before she took a sip from her glass.

She turned back to find the barman whispering something into Ebony's ear, every so often her friend would nod.

Igneel laughed once more before his attention suddenly drifted to a girl who just entered the pub. The girl was dressed in a fitting high-necked scarlet red dress and had long salmon spiky hair that reached down to her waist. He turned to face his team mates, wondering if any of them spotted the salmon haired girl, however they all had the same bored expressions on their faces as they downed the contents of their glances.

She instantly walked over to the counter taking a seat at the far corner, leaning over slightly she whispered to the barman who smiled. Igneel couldn't hear their conversation, he was too far away and he didn't have enhanced senses like Ebony who was still occupied, however he continued to watch the new girl she looked somewhat familiar to him.

The barman handed the salmon haired girl a glass filled with a pink coloured drink, she frowned slightly, at its colour, however the frown quickly turned into a smile as she motioned for the barman to come closer. He whispered something in her ear and she nodded, standing up and loudly tucking in the stool

"What are you staring at?" Holly asked as she turned to face Igneel's direction of the salmon haired girl.

The girl picked up the glass and chucked its contents at the barman. "It's not pink its salmon!" She shouted before she turned and left. As she walked past him Igneel managed to catch her chocolate-brown eyes, their gazes locked for no longer than a second and ignoring Holly as she called for him, he instantly followed the girl outside of the pub.

Standing in the cold night air he looked around only to realise that she was gone.

* * *

_**What did you think of that?**_

_**Stay tuned in for the next chapter 'Dragon God'**_

_**JustAnotherFairy**_


	6. Dragon God

**A/N: One of the longest chapters that I have written...enjoy...**

* * *

Azalea walked through the Rocky Mountains, trying her best to keep her balance and stick to the shadows to avoid detection. The directions that the barman had given her directed her to the Rocky Mountains west of the town, and apparently the guild wasn't too far in either since Azalea could sense a large amount of magic energy.

She tried to keep her focus on the task ahead, however her thought would occasionally drift towards the blue haired man from the mage bar the night before and the way his onyx eyes stared at her...it was as if he knew her...or as if she knew him.

Shaking her head she came to a sudden stop as she felt a sudden burst of magic energy. Glancing around the terrain, it appeared to be a dead-end.

A smirk suddenly formed on her face "A cloaking spell...nice" She muttered to herself.

She climbed down the rock face, trying her best to keep her movements quick yet cautious. Once her feet touched the ground she lifted her head to the air, using her enhanced senses to follow the human scent.

She stopped once she came in contact with what looked to be another rocky mountain however she could smell the humans and sense their magic from inside. "This must be the guild" She sighed as she fished her mask out her cloak. Adjusting her outfit she took a glance at herself in her pocket mirror smirking in amusement a her appearance '_I look like some ninja reject'_ she thought to herself as she placed the skeleton mask on her face.

She placed her hands on the 'rocks' smiling triumphantly once she placed her hands on what felt like a door. Wasting no time she kicked it open with such force that the doors swung against the inside walls with a loud 'thunk' which in turn alerted the dark guild members that they were being attacked.

The members froze as they stared at her, none of them knowing what do to or how she even infiltrated their guild in the first place.

She took a few steps forward, every step echoing throughout the guild.

"Why do you fear her, I'm sensing no magic power from her...she's weak!" One of the members shouted

Azalea growled, turning to face the man, he instantly gulped once the skeleton masked woman was facing him, the only thing he could see where her eyes...and they stared right into his soul chilling him to the core. "People like you, like to judge the strength of their mage based of their magic power..." She paused, slowly lowering the mask of her magic energy, allowing it to fill the room "If that were the case then you're right you shouldn't fear me..."

The man gulped, suddenly sensing the large amount of magic energy radiating from Azalea

"You should be fucking terrified!"

* * *

Holly shivered, suddenly feeling the dramatic increase of magic energy in the area. As if sensing her unease, Cadence turned to face her with a small smile. "You okay?"

Holly nodded "I just felt a large increase of magic energy" she explained, causing Ebony to gasp.

"Then it must be from that rogue mage!"

Cadence nodded in agreement "Then if that's the case, we should hurry and find the guild"

Jaden frowned "Yeah but some crazy-assed dragon slayer can't seem to find it!"

Ebony growled, turning her fist into iron in the process "You are just asking for it Fullbastard!"

Holly loaded her bow with an arrow, giving both mages a warning look. They instantly silenced.

Cadence turned to Igneel, the celestial mage had been unusually quiet during the journey through the Rocky Mountains, to think about it he was unusually quiet ever since the group had left the mage bar the night before.

Cadence turned to Igneel, a look of worry on her face as she wondered what was wrong with him "Hey Igneel...something bothering you" Cadence asked.

Igneel suddenly stopped walking, the rest of the group turned around confused about why he did so.

Suddenly getting all the attention from his friends Igneel got nervous "Well...um"

Ebony sighed loudly, not afraid to hide her frustrations "We haven't got all day..." She growled

Igneel sighed, gently pinching the bridge of his nose "I saw a girl at the bar yesterday that looked like Layla..." He said, his gaze averted to the ground

The mages stood frozen. Cadence turning to her brother who had the same shocked expression on his face, however Ebony only had a mixed expression of confusion and anger "And you didn't tell anyone...?" Ebony asked, irritation and anger clear in her voice.

Cadence placed a hand on her shoulder trying to calm her "remember Ebony, we have a job to complete..."

Ebony swatted away Cadence's hand, glaring at Igneel "...At what point where you panning to tell the rest of us...was it after we completed the job...or maybe when we got back to the guild!" Ebony snapped.

Holly stiffened the re-quip mage suddenly remembering that she too had seen the salmon haired girl at the bar the night before "Don't blame Igneel, he probably was just as confused as the rest of us" Holly said.

Ebony turned to the re-quip mage "...You saw her too?"

"..."

Ebony growled at Holly's response "So when were you two going to mention this?" Ebony asked

"Ebony...you're making this worse" Cadence sighed trying to calm her friend.

Jaden just sighed "Look Ebony, we have a job to do let's focus on that before we start fighting each other"

Ebony ignored Cadence, while she continued to glare daggers at Holly and Igneel. "I don't know why you two even hid this from me...it isn't like I was going to..." she paused, freezing on the spot as she stared around the rocky mountains, for a minute Ebony thought that she heard something.

Holly turned to Cadence, confused with Ebony's actions "Wasn't going to what?" She asked, only to get no answer from the iron dragon slayer.

Ebony narrowed her eyes at a certain large boulder, the shadow it was casting was too...too human. Her eyes suddenly widened and "Everyone get- " Ebony shouted however before she could finish she fell to the ground in pain. "Fuck that hurt!" She shouted, placing her hand hard over her bullet wound.

Cadence ran over to Ebony, placing an arm on her shoulder "Ebony, are you okay!" She exclaimed, worry clear on her face.

Ebony smirked, the hot blood seeping through her fingers and drenching her white shirt "Tch, I'm fine it was just shot by some fucker with lousy aim" She laughed, before the sudden movement caused her wince in pain.

Glancing up to where the direction of the bullet came from, the members of the dark guild all wielded magic pistols at their finger tips and were ready to fire. And Team Igneel suddenly realized that they were surrounded.

Igneel quickly placed his fingers on his keys, ready to summon a spirit; Holly had re quipped to her heavens steel bow and arrows; Ebony had covered her body in iron scales, her injured arm hanging limp by her side whilst both Cadence and Jaden stood in fighting stance.

Cadence quickly raised her hands, summoning a large amount of magic energy "Ice Make: Shield!" She shouted and once the silver/white magic circle had disappeared, a large Ice shield stood infront of the mages. The dark guild members instantly fired at Cadence's shield; forcing the ice make mage to dig her heel into the ground. The shield managed to stop the bullets from hitting the mages, however the force was enough to slowly push Cadence back, forcing her to summon more magic energy to make the shield stronger.

Holly loaded her bow with her heavens steel arrows; arrows that were weightless however deadly, they were said to be made of steel that never faltered or broke. She aimed her arrows, firing at the dark members before they had a chance to shoot.

Igneel quickly fished out one of his keys "Open gate of the great hunter: Orion!" He shouted, a bright light appeared and once that disappeared it revealed a muscular blonde, leaving his torso bare and dressed only in brown colored pants, which were held up with black belt that had the three stars that made up Orion's belt on the buckle l The spirit smirked once before turning to his master for instructions. "You've summoned me for a great hunt master?" Orion asked excitedly.

Igneel face palmed, Orion also known as the great hunter, was obsessed with hunting and anything involved with it. Although Orion had a tendency to go a bit berserk when fighting, he was a strong spirit, had great aim and was North's boyfriend, meaning that Igneel couldn't really say anything bad about him without the bright star threatening to take his head.

" Orion, can you just help Holly take out those guys..."Igneel said, gesturing to the dark mages above them .

Orion nodded, quickly loading his bow with arrows "The great hunter shall capture his prey!" He declared before jumping into battle.

Some of the dark guild members jumped down from their high point, ready to fight the mages head on, causing Ebony to smirk "Look, Fullbastrd, these stupid fuckers think they can fight us" She laughed.

Jaden sighed "Hey, Redfox how about we make this interesting..." He paused to place a group of dark mages inn a water lock before he turned back to Ebony "...as I was saying, however gets the most of these dark mages wins.."

Ebony smirked once more before she turned to punch two dark mages down "What does the loser do?" She asked, suddenly becoming interested

Now it was Jaden's turn to smirk "If I win, you have to flirt back with Marvin every time he uses those cheesy pick up lines on you, but only for a week" Jaden decided. Ebony's eyes widened, for a moment she was considering backing down, the iron dragon slayer wasn't sure if she could flirt back with Marvin without wanting to knock him out.

She grit her teeth together, nodding her head "And if I win you have to go by Fullbastard for a whole week" She added with a smirk. Jaden nodded his head, two mages shaking hands.

Ebony turned to Cadence, the ice make mage was still holding up the ice shield "Cadence will you judge?" Ebony asked

Cadence frowned "I'm a little busy here!" She exclaimed, gesturing to the shield that prevented the mages from being shot multiple times.

"Just do it!" Ebony and Jaden shouted in unison

Cadence sighed "Fine... you two can start your stupid contest" She sighed, causing Ebony and Jaden to instantly start trying to defeat more dark mages than the other.

Igneel sighed before he kicked down the last dark mage, sending him to the ground. He turned to Holly with a smile, the re-quip mage ex-quipping from her heavens steel arrows to her regular ones.

"That actually ended quite quickly" Holly sighed whilst brushing her blue bangs from her face.

Igneel nodded in agreement, before closing Orion's gate.

"I won!" Ebony shouted

Jaden sighed loudly "No I did..." He stated matter of factly

Igneel raised a brow, turning back to Holly who had the same expression on her face.

"look..." Cadence said holding her hands up in the air "You tied"

"What?!" Ebony and Jaden shouted in unison

"You did so you both win and lose" Cadence sighed before walking away

Ebony turned to face Jaden with a smirk "Ha...you have to go by Fullbastard for one full week!" She laughed.

Jaden nodded, a smirk forming on his lips too "...And you have to flirt with Marvin for a week too..." He pointed out, causing the iron dragon slayer to growl.

"Hey, don't get too upset...you might actually enjoy it" He added with a smirk

Ebony turned her uninjured arm into an iron club "You are dead, Fullbastard!" she shouted before chasing after him.

Holly sighed, grabbing Ebony by the back of her shirt "Can't you two get along for five minutes...we have a job to complete" She hissed.

Ebony growled, turning her arm back to its original state "Fine...but when we get back to the guild, I am going to kill you"

Jaden smirked once more "You won't...since you'll be too busy with Marvin!" He teased before running away.

Ebony quickly broke out of Holly's grip, chasing after the water mage "I am going to kill you, Fullbastard!"

* * *

Azalea fished her magic rope out of her bag, sighing happily with her handy work. Every mage in the guild was either knocked out or had admitted surrender, even the guild master sat cowering in front of her as she tied him up with her magic rope.

"Looks, like that went well..." She sighed, tightening the rope around the guild master's wrists.

He stared up at her, still quivering in fear, the look of determination he had once possessed had now vanished.

She sighed wondering why there were so little guild members, she bent her head down her skeleton clad masked face was now at eye level with the guild master, the sudden closeness causing him to quiver even more "Where are the rest of your members?" She demanded, her masked face inches away from his.

"I...I don't know!" He exclaimed

Azalea sighed heavily, reaching her hand into her bag.

"W...what are you doing?" the guild master asked, his eyes focused on the sheathed sword that she had pulled out of her bag.

"Nothing..." She said innocently, pausing to unsheathed her sword "...Just giving you another incentive..."

She instantly placed the cold blade against his, receiving a whimper from the man "...Now, where are the rest of your members"

He gulped, his eyes focused on the blade that rested against his neck.

"My hand might just slip" She sighed, allowing the blade to press harder against the skin, enough to leave mark but not deep enough t break the skin.

"They're fighting the others!" He shouted.

Azalea tilted her head to the side "Others...?"

"Other mages, a group of them were spotted in the mountains...not long after you came" He explained, his eyes tightly squeezed shut.

"What mages... who could have been sent after me...I wasn't followed...?" She muttered to herself.

Suddenly the guild doors swung open once more, catching both the guild master and Azalea by surprise. Turning around she gasped at the sight of the familiar faces; the black-haired girl and the navy haired boy from the forest.

Kicking away the guild master, she held her sword tightly in her hands "Who are you!" She shouted, her voice echoing throughout the guild hall.

The blue haired girl smirked, taking a step forward "Fairy Tail..."

Before any of the mages could react the masked rogue mage ran directly at them, her sword held tightly in her hands. She lifted the blade as if to strike it at Holly and instantly Ebony stepped in front of the re quip mage, her body clad in thick iron scales.

The rogue mage hissed, pressing her sword firmly into Ebony's arm, the iron dragon slayer forced her arm forward, causing the rogue mage to stumble back.

Inhaling her opponents scent, Ebony caught the familiar scent of dragon slayer magic and...something else. "Hey, are you a dragon slayer?" She asked, her guard up as she stood in fighting stance The masked mage scoffed "No...something much more powerful" She stated matter of factly

Now it was Ebony's turn to scoff "Just spit it out...the suspense is killing me" She sighed

" I'm a dragon god" she answered, causing the mages eyes to widen once more.

"That explains the large amount of magic energy" Holly concluded, whilst herself and the other mages continued to watch the stand-off.

"But I've never heard of such a thing..." Igneel sighed as he continued to watch the masked mage closely

"H...how could your body withstand my attack?" the skeleton masked mage asked she was amazed that the joint sharpness of the blade and force she put into the attack wasn't enough to slice of her opponents arm.

Ebony smirked "Because I'm an Iron dragon slayer..." she stated, causing the masked mage to grip her sword tighter; flames suddenly engulfed the blade, causing the mages eyes to widen.

"Ebony...maybe you should sit this one out...you're already injured" Cadence pointed out

Ebony turned to face the ice make mage, shaking her head "No way...and besides, it only just got interesting"

The masked mage attacked first, swinging her flaming sword at Ebony; Ebony swiftly dodged the attack, appearing behind the masked mage and attacking her with her now iron club for a hand.

The masked mage stumbled to the ground, however quickly recovered, this time her sword making contact with Ebony's iron scaled arm.

The masked mage engulfed her sword with more flames, the intense heat starting to weaken Ebony's scales. "Give up...there's no way that those scales can withstand the heat of my flames!" The masked mage hissed.

Ebony growled, placing her injured arm behind her normal one in an 'x' shape, to push the blade back. "Tch. You call this heat!" She spat.

The flames started to bounce of the sword, a ring of fire forming around the two mages, causing the temperature in the guild hall to significantly rise.

Cadence took a step back, the ice make mage not faring too well against the intense heat "I don't know how much more Ebony will be able to take..."

Holly turned to Jaden "The battle has gone on long enough, Jaden try to put out those flames"

Jaden nodded, a blue magic circle appeared in front of his out stretched hands and water appeared.

He concentrated, aiming for the masked girl and not the flames itself. He released the water, a large amount hitting the mask mage in the waist, the force causing her to fall to the ground.

The sword fell to the ground with a 'thunk' the flames no longer engulfing it.

Jaden sighed once he had gotten rid of all the flames, using all that water had taken more magic energy than he had originally thought.

"Thanks, Fullbastard..." Ebony sighed, she had turned her arms back to their original state and they were now covered in multiple burn marks.

"See what I told you!" Cadence shouted before she hit Ebony over the head with an ice hammer.

"Ow that hurt, you crazy ice bitch!" Ebony hissed, before reaching up to rub the sore spot on her head; however the sudden movement caused her to flinch in pain.

"Don't 'crazy ice bitch me' Ebony Redfox...your Mom is going to freak when she sees this!" She shouted, gesturing to the burn marks on her arms "...Don't expect me to put any ice on those..."She hissed before frowning at the dragon slayer.

Igneel sat not too far away from the masked mage, his head tilted the side as he remembered her battle with Ebony. The flames she produced had such a familiar feel to them, the celestial mage just couldn't place it. Holly's appearance brought him back from his thought, the re-quip mage standing next to him. She had a small frown on her face, and Igneel instantly knew that she was thinking, she would always where that same frown when she felt guilty for something.

He placed a hand on her shoulder, the contact causing her to look up him with her deep brown eyes "Ebony will be fine..." He said, causing Holly to glance over to the said mage, who was hissing as Cadence ice her burns.

She sighed before turning back to face the unconscious masked mage "but I still can't help feeling guilty..."

Igneel chuckled, causing Holly to raise a brow "You think too much"

"And some don't think at all..." She hissed, before folding her arms with a pout.

Igneel chuckled once more, placing an arm around the re-quip mage's shoulder who tried to hide her blush at the sudden contact "Don't be like that Hols...I know what can make you feel better" he added with a sing-song voice, causing Holly to rolls her eyes at how childish he was acting.

"What?" She asked, trying to hide her curiosity

"Should we de-mask her...?" Igneel asked

Holly only nodded her head, kneeling down on the ground beside the mage. Igneel sat on the other side, his hand ghosted over the wooden skeleton like mask. Holly watched as his fingers latched onto the bottom of it, pulling it away from her face, what was revealed caused the usually calm and collected blue haired woman to stumble backwards with both surprise and confusion.

The sudden loss of contact, combined with the gasps from Holly and Igneel, was enough to bring the mask mage back to consciousness. She quickly darted up, her hands instantly searching her face for her mask.

She turned to face Igneel, the blonde still holding the mask in his hands was too shocked to move, she swiftly grabbed the mask from him, using it to whack him in the face.

Holly wasted no time with loading her bow with arrows firing them at the unmasked mage, but to her surprise she dodged every shot, quickly grabbing the bow out of Holly hands and tossing it out of her reach.

Azalea stood in fighting stance, what confused her was that none of the mages appeared to want to attack her; they all looked like they wanted to...cry.

She tilted her head to the side in confusion, studying the mages. She instantly remembered the raven haired girl and navy blue haired man, both she had met in the town of Boronia and once her eyes landed on the blonde haired man, once her eyes landed on his dark ones, something inside her cried out..a need to wrap her arms around him and tell him that everything was going to be fine. But she stood still; the faces of these people seemed so familiar yet so distant.

She opened her mouth to speak, determined to find out who those people were "Who...are you?" She asked her arms were still raised in defence however deep down she knew that they wouldn't attack.

The blonde one stepped forward, his eyes looked so sad and the mixture of emotions radiating from him even confused Azalea " Y...you don't remember us, do you?" he asked, the sadness clear in his voice.

Azalea frowned "Am I supposed to?" she asked, still confused.

"It would help if you did..." The blue haired woman said, a small smile ghosting her lips at her innocence.

Azalea's suddenly noticed something, the mages all had the same marks on their skin; a mark of a feathered winged creature...a mark identical to her own.

"What are those?" She asked gesturing to the red guild insignia that was on the blonde's upper arm.

He glanced down at what she was referring to "This..." asked, causing her to nod her head "...It's a guild insignia"

She tilted her head to the side

"Do you know what a guild insignia is" The taller dark-haired girl asked

"I'm not stupid...of course I know what a guild insignia is, I was confused because I had one as well" Azalea snapped.

The navy blue man's eyes widened "You have one...where?" He asked, causing Azalea to raise a brow at his sudden interest.

She sighed "Unless you want me to flash you, then you can't see it..." She said a frown on her face.

"Well if you have a guild insignia that makes you part of Fairy Tail..." The blue haired woman explained.

Azalea's eyes widened, she was never part of a guild...was she, she might have been but the salmon haired woman wouldn't have known since she had absolutely no memory of the first twelve years of her life. Anything could have happened then, including having a family and being part of a guild.

"I couldn't be part of this...this Fairy Tail...it would be impossible" She exclaimed, her hands running through her hair in frustration.

The taller dark-haired girl's gaze softened "You said it yourself, you had a mark like ours...come back to Fairy Tail with us" She suggested.

Azalea shook her head "I have no memories from the first twelve years of my life...I am no one" She said sadly.

The blonde haired man frowned "...You come with us, you might get them back, find out who you were...don't you want that?" He asked a hopeful look on his face.

Azalea sighed "I...can't" she said sadly, causing all the mages to sigh in defeat.

The shorter dark-haired woman growled, marching over towards Azalea.

"Look you are coming with us whether you like it or not!" The shorter dark-haired girl announced as she grabbed Azalea by the wrist and started to pull her out of the dark guild hall.

The rest of the mages followed behind them, the taller dark-haired woman having clear worry on her face "Ebony isn't this a bit much?" She asked

Ebony shrugged her shoulders "Do you have another way to get her back to the guild?" She asked, only to receive a silent 'no' from the taller mage.

Azalea tried to free herself from her grip, but to her surprise the woman was quite strong

"Hey, let me go...this is kidnapping!" she shouted, only to get no response from the dark-haired woman.

"Well you are a wanted vigilante..." the blue haired woman pointed out, causing Azalea to pout.

"Yeah, you should be lucky we aren't turning you in" The short woman growled, before she continued puling Azalea through the mountains, whilst the other mages followed behind dragging the dark guild members.

After pulling at her own wrist had gotten her nowhere, Azalea sighed in defeat. She wasn't exactly thrilled that she was being forced to go to a guild, but if they had the answers she was looking for it could be a trip worthwhile. She sighed once more, the salmon haired woman wondering what this 'Fairy Tail' looked like.

* * *

**_What did you think of that?_**

**_Make sure to stay tuned for the next chapter 'Azalea'_**

**_JustAnotherFairy :)_**


	7. Azalea

**A/N: WARNING this chapter contains a flash back and is over 3000 words...enjoy**

* * *

_A young Layla Dragneel about eleven years old sat at the bar on her own, Ebony and Jaden had went on a job with Holly and since Layla was too young to go on jobs she was left behind...again._

_She glanced over to her left where Gale was sitting the younger mage was reading a book that was almost bigger than him._

_She turned her head to see what it was, however the salmon haired girl gave up after almost falling from her stool...twice._

"_Gale what are you reading?" She asked, anything that Gale read was always interesting._

_Gale placed the book on the table "A history book on Fiore..." He said as he pointed to the page he was reading, allowing Layla to read its contents._

_She frowned, the book was interesting but it was just boring to read for the eleven year old "You don't like it...?" Gale asked sadly._

_Layla gave her friend a sad smile "sorry, Gale but to be honest smart books are more your thing...scary books are mine" She stated with a toothy grin. Gale nodded in agreement_

"_Layla!" A familiar voice shouted_

_Glancing over behind her she spotted her brother and her friends and her smile instantly returned._

"_Igneel!" She shouted as she hugged her brother_

_Ebony frowned "So you didn't miss your best friend?" Ebony asked with a playful smile_

_Layla smiled as she hugged her friend "Course I missed you Ebony-Chan!" Layla exclaimed as she hugged her friend._

_Layla walked over the bar to drink her drink, frowning before she twirled the straw around her glass exactly three times._

_Jaden frowned at the action "Why do you do that?" He asked, finding Layla's actions strange._

_Layla smiled before turning to the water mage "One is lonely and two's just as bad, threes a crowd and that makes me glad!" She exclaimed before taking a sip of her drink_

_Her friends looked to Igneel for an explanation; the blonde just shrugged his shoulders._

"_I don't get it..." Jaden sighed_

"_And you never will Fullbastard" Ebony smirked instantly causing the two to start fighting_

* * *

Brushing off her previous dream as nothing more than a dream Azalea sighed , the steady rhythm of the train running against the tracks was enough to lull both the salmon haired and dark-haired women into a drowsy like state; however sleep became a distant memory with the occasional jostle of the carriage and caused the motion sickness for both women to worsen.

Ebony sat on the end of the row of seats whilst Azalea sat on the opposite side, her head leaning against the window with her eyes half closed.

Holly and Igneel sat next to her, the blue haired woman was leant against the blonde's shoulder both in deep slumber. Whilst Jaden and Cadence sat on the same side as Ebony, Cadence asleep on her brothers shoulder, the ice make mage sitting didn't trust the Ebony or her Brother to not start a fight on the busy train.

She gently sat up, deciding that trying to sleep away the sickness just wasn't going to work.

Jaden sighed, he water mage sneaking a glance Azalea's direction.

The salmon haired woman was staring out of the window and every so often would gently bite her lower lip or twirl a lock of hair around a finger. As if sensing his gaze upon her, she turned to face him, and her cheeks suddenly became tinted with a light shade of red.

Both their eyes met; her chocolate-brown ones and his blue orbs "...Has anyone told you that it's rude to stare..." She said, never taking her eyes away from his.

A small smile ghosted his lips "...has anyone told you the same thing...?" He countered, causing her to smile...a smile that caused her chocolate-brown eyes to brighten.

The sudden jostle of the carriage caused Azalea to bring her hands to her temples whilst a small moan escaped her lips.

Jaden looked over at the salmon haired woman; worry clear on his features "You okay?" he asked

Azalea slowly removed her fingers from her temples and gave the water mage a small smile "Yeah" She paused for a moment, a playful smirk on her lips "You know for a kidnapper...you care too much.." she said matter of factly.

He lightly chuckled "Who said that I was a kidnapper...?" He asked a smile ghosting his lips "Technically, Ebony was the one who kidnapped you" He said, gesturing to the sleeping dragon slayer.

Azalea nodded in agreement "True...but the rest of you were accomplices and anyway you would make a bad kidnapper" She added with a laugh

Jaden raised a brow "What makes us bad kidnappers?" he asked, suddenly frowning at how strange the question sounded.

She placed a finger on her chin in thought "...Well for starters you guys are too nice..." She said

Jaden laughed, Cadence maybe was too nice. Holly gave off a 'touch me and I'll kill you vibe'

Whereas Ebony would straight out say 'touch me and I'll kill you. The only person that was considered 'normal' or to not be considered 'crazy' was Igneel.

"How are we too nice...?" Jaden asked

Azalea opened her mouth to speak however Cadence's incoherent mumbling stopped them both.

The ice make mage gave a small yawn before glancing over to the two younger mages with tired eyes. "You two talk too loud..." She sighed before she gave another yawn.

Azalea smiled "...You kind of deserved it...you know for kidnapping me and taking me to your guild against my will and everything" She said with a smile.

Cadence frowned "Hey, Ebony kidnapped you...I was an accomplice"

Azalea smirked "Yeah...I knew that, since you guys are terrible kidnappers" She stated before folding her arms over her chest.

Cadence looked at her brother confused, the water mage sighed "Apparently we're all terrible kidnappers because we're too nice..." Jaden explained

Cadence sighed "Yeah...I guess we're too nice "

Azalea nodded her head in agreement

"Since you guys kidnapped me why don't we play a getting to know you game!" Azalea exclaimed with a smile on her face.

Jaden and Cadence sighed before nodding in agreement

"So the rules are you can only ask five questions, 'pass' one question but you have to answer all the questions" Azalea explained

Cadence nodded "Sounds easy enough" she said causing Azalea to nod.

"I'll go first" Azalea announced as she then placed a finger on her chin while she thought of a question. "Cadence...why do you take your clothes off?"

Cadence gasped then looked down at herself and realised that her top was missing "Well um..."

She started however she was interrupted by Ebony.

"Her dad's an ice stripper and so is she" Ebony said matter of factly

Jaden turned to face the dragon slayer "Who said that you could join the game?" He asked, causing Ebony to growl. She stood up in her seat, and started to lean over Cadence the action causing her to get a little dizzy.

"I did...you have a problem with that Fullbastard?" She snapped back

Jaden too stood up in his seat, leaning over his sister who was now trapped between the arguing mages. The argument didn't go unnoticed by the other passengers who watched in either horror, amusement or both.

Azalea just stared at the two mages as they continued to argue and then turned to Cadence "Do they always argue like this?"

Cadence nodded trying her best to avoid their argument "Yeah but they usually stop when Holly's around" Cadence explained

Azalea smiled "Well good, because she's waking up now..."

An arrow suddenly landed between the arguing mages, narrowly avoiding their faces. Both Ebony and Jaden froze once they noticed that it was one of Holly's arrows.

"Now both of you sit down..." Holly hissed and both mages instantly retreated back to their seats.

Cadence turned to Azalea "Um...sorry we didn't catch your name..." Cadence said as depressing anime lines appeared around her

Azalea smirked "... Azalea" she said

The mages froze, Jaden quickly sat up "What...like the flower...?"

Ebony raised a brow "What else would it be like Fullbastard...are you that stupid?" she snapped

Jaden smirked "I don't know but only a stupid person would ask that question!" He snapped back causing Ebony to dart her arms out n an effort to punch him, only to be blocked by Cadence.

Cadence sat between the two, trying her best to stop the argument "I don't know how Igneel can sleep through this..." She sighed.

Holly grabbed her bow and started to repeatedly whack both Ebony and Jaden over the head with it; Cadence tried to separate the two, whilst Azalea watched in amusement and Igneel continued to sleep.

The train came to a sudden stop an over head voice announcing that they had arrived in Magnolia station.

Igneel quickly darted up, his voice still groggy from sleep "Looks like this is our stop..." He sighed as he stood up.

The rest of the mages followed behind as if nothing had happened, leaving Azalea staring at the group of mages wide-eyed.

_I just got kidnapped by the strangest group of people..._ he sighed and walked along after the group she had dubbed 'the world worst kidnappers'

* * *

The dark guild had taken a lot longer than they had originally planned to find; the townspeople weren't exactly willing to share information and the guild itself was cloaked with some sort of illusion spell to make it seem as part of the rocky terrain. Placing a hand through his now gray hair the man appeared to be in his mid forties and was dressed in a loose fitted white shirt with green pants.

He placed his hand in the charred floor and instantly recognizing the owner of this magic he smiled causing his blue eyes to brighten. His smile suddenly disappeared once he caught the presence of another familiar magic; a magic that he hadn't seen in a long time. Other than the traces of dragon slayer and water magic someone else had come here; someone who he hadn't expected to see for a long time.

Sighing he walked out the building, continuing his search for Layla Dragneel.

* * *

Azalea gasped as they walked into the guild, they were instantly greeted by an array of interesting characters. She tried to stifle a laugh once a short woman with blue hair walked straight over to Ebony and scolded her for her bullet wounds; even during their fight Ebony didn't look that scared and there she was cowering before her mother.

A small dark-haired girls ran over to Igneel, she looked no older than five and upon spotting her the blonde picked her up in his arms. "Where' s your Mom, Sora?" Igneel asked the younger girl

She pointed over to where the infirmary was "Mommy's healing Ebony..." She paused for a moment as she burst into giggles "... and Aunt Levy is telling her off"

Igneel chuckled "Why is that so funny..?" He asked Sora

Sora shrugged her shoulders "Because it is..." she stated matter of factly

He laughed before placing Sora down on the ground, the smaller girl glanced at Azalea with curiosity "My name's Sora what's yours...?" She asked with an added cyte smile

Azalea knelt so she was at eye level with the younger girl "Azalea..." She answered

Sora gasped and then pulled on Igneel's hand "Like the flower!" She exclaimed, causing the older mages to laugh and nod in agreement.

"Sora where's your dad?" Igneel asked

Sora pointed over to one of the tables, where Romeo was drinking with his father "Daddy and Grandpa are drinking their grown up drinks" She explained

"Maybe if you ask nicely he will give you some!" Shouted a slightly tipsy voice

"Okay!" Sora said happily as she skipped over to her father.

Igneel shook his head "Stella she's a kid!" Igneel shouted

The owner of the voice or Stella just shrugged her shoulders and continued to drink out of her barrel.

Glancing over to one of the tables Azalea noticed a blue haired boy trying to pull a barrel away from the dark-haired girl who looked a bit too young to be drinking.

The dark-haired girl tried reaching over the boy to get the barrel back, however he lifted it above his head and out of her reach "Gale, give it back!" She shouted as she tried in vain to grab the barrel out of his grasp.

The blue haired boy or Gale shook his head "Sorry Stella...but you had enough" Gale said before he passed the barrel over to a brunette woman who immediately started to down its contents.

"Hands off Mom; that was mine!" Stella shouted as she tried to grab the barrel from her mother.

Her Mom placed the barrel down by her side "Sorry, Stell...you snooze you lose"

Stella folded her arms over her chest with a pout "But I wasn't even snoozing" She muttered to herself

"That's Cana Alberona and her daughter Stella Groh " Igneel explained

Azalea glanced back to the two mages, smiling once she spotted Stella trying to swipe Cana's barrel.

_So that's what families are like..._she thought to herself whilst Igneel dragged Azalea over towards the bar.

Taking their seats on the bar stools, the two mages were greeted by a sweet voice. "So what can I get you two ...?"

Igneel glanced turned towards the bar, only to be greeted by the back of a white-haired mage.

"Aunt Mira can we just get water please?" Igneel asked.

The Celestial mage gasped once the white-haired woman turned around with a frown.

"You thought that...I was my Mom?" She gasped

Igneel sweat dropped "Sorry Mila, you and Aunt Mira sound so alike...I mean the only difference is the eyes" Igneel explained.

Mila smiled, causing her amber eyes to brighten "So..." She said, her focus suddenly on Azalea "Who are you?" She asked as she slammed her hands on the counter and stared right into Azaleas eyes, causing the salmon haired woman to get a little uncomfortable.

She shifted backwards on her stool and tried to avoid Mila's gaze "Um...Azalea..." She said

She turned to Igneel for a reason for Mila's sudden mood change, only he seemed unfazed about it, leading Azalea to believe that it was a normal occurrence.

Mila frowned "Is that a statement...or a question?" She asked, hitting the counter once more.

Azalea sweat dropped "Definitely a statement..." she said

Mila's frown suddenly disappeared and she smiled "That's good enough for me" She said as she turned around to get the mages their drinks.

Azalea just stared at the white-haired mage wide-eyed "That's Mila Dreyar" Igneel explained

"She's really sweet but can be a little..." he paused to think of the right word

"Scary...?" Azalea offered

Igneel laughed "Yeah...but don't let her hear you"

Like her Mother, Mila Dreyer was a take-over mage and with her wavy white locks, pale skin and amber eyes you wouldn't be wrong if you mistook her for an angel, since Mila used Angel Soul take-over magic...the exact opposite of her mother. With her magic and her protective nature over her brothers, Mila was arguably the scariest of the Dreyer siblings.

"Where's your brothers?" Igneel asked, he noticed that Ebony wasn't giving off that 'I'm going to kill you' vibe which usually signified that Marvin was about.

Mila smiled "They went on a job together..." She sighed suddenly realised that she missed having them around.

Being the middle child, Mila was close to both her younger and older brother.

"They'll be back soon..." She sighed before she turned to serve someone else.

Igneel sighed sadly as he watched the salmon haired girl absently twirled her straw around her glass, she did it about three times which was exactly what Layla used to do.

She smiled up at him and Igneel had to fight the urge to hug her there and then.

She started muttering to herself whilst seh twirled the straw "One is lonely and two's just as bad..."

Igneel's eyes widened "three's a crowd and that makes me glad!"

Azalea tilted her head to the side as she stared at Igneel "Hey you know that too...?" She asked

"Well...um...I heard it from a friend..." Igneel said sadly.

Azalea noticed the sadness in his voice, she had no idea why but she decided that she didn't like to see him upset "Oh..."

She gasped once she spotted Igneel's celestial keys poking out of his pocket. "You're a celestial mage!" She exclaimed

Igneel nodded "Yep..."

"Igneel you have to show me a spirit...I've never seen one before" She gasped

"Well...I don't know..." Igneel sighed as he ran a hand through his spiky hair

Azalea pouted, tilted her head slightly to the side "please..." She said sweetly causing Igneel to groan...the blonde was always weak to his sister's puppy dog face.

"fine..." He sighed as he pulled out the key to summon the spirit he wanted Azalea to meet the most.

"Open gate of the bright star: North!" He shouted

Azalea shielded her eyes from the bright light with her arms, and once that faded she gasped at the sight of the silver-haired spirit.

North blinked twice at Layla "Igneel...she looks just how you described her...except older" She whispered, low enough that Azalea coudn't i it up with hr enhanced senses.

Igneel nodded "Azalea...North, North...Azalea" he said gesturing to the said mages.

North offered her hand to the salmon haired girl "Why's your name North?" Azalea asked

North smiled _Just like Igneel described her _"Well...why's your name Azalea?" North countered

Azalea paused to think "Well I didn't have a name and I thought that Azalea's were pretty...but that doesn't explain why you're called North" Layla added with a slight frown.

North smiled once more "You know Azalea...I think that we'll get along really well"

* * *

Cadence smiled as she watched Azalea talking with one of Igneel's spirits, she knew how much he had wanted Layla to meet them so she knew how much the moment meant to the celestial mage.

"Do you think that she'll stay here?" Jaden asked as he took a seat next to his sister.

Cadence sighed "I don't know Jad-" She paused as she remembered his bet with Ebony "I don't know Fullbastard...Ebony said that she'll ask her" She added

Jaden sighed "I already told Master the situation and he said that he'll sort something out..." He told his sister.

Cadence nodded but already most of the guild was staring at Azalea sadly and soon the salmon haired mage would catch on to the heavy atmosphere.

"Hey Cadence, Fullbastard" Ebony said as she took a seat next to the ice mage.

Jaden smirked "When Marvin gets back I'm going to make sure that he speaks to you first" Jaden hissed

"Don't worry Fullbastard...when sparky gets back I'm going to flirt with him so good..." Ebony snapped

Jaden laughed causing Ebony to blush at how that sounded "Don't worry Redfox...I'm sure you will "

He said between laughs.

Ebony growled "What's that supposed to mean...?" She asked her arms now folded over her chest.

Jaden smirked "Come on Redfox...we both know that you are going to enjoy this bet...I mean I wouldn't be surprised if you had a secret crush on Marvin"

Ebony froze "I am going to kill you" She hissed before she chased after Jaden.

"I'm sure that when Marvin gets back that you'll be chasing him!" Jaden shouted before Ebony tossed a bar stool at him.

The stool bounced from Jaden and hit Holly in the back, causing the blue haired mage to start repeatedly whacking him over the head with her bow, soon enough most of the guild joined in with the brawl and bar stools and other furniture were being thrown around the guild hall

Cadence sighed, narrowly missing a stray chair: _Just another day in paradise..._

* * *

Laxus' wife Mira sat on the desk whilst he sat behind, completing apology letters on behalf of the guild. He cringed once he heard the sound of wood breaking, from yet another guild brawl, this time he chose to ignore this fight as he mentally counted down the day before he could officially retire.

He loudly sighed as he placed a hand on his head "..I just don't understand how after all these years he still destroys towns..." He groaned

Mira smiled, gently wrapping her arms around her husband's neck "...Well this is Natsu" She sighed before planting a kiss on his temple.

This was one of the reasons why he liked having his wife in his office; she was always there to calm him when he needed it, to make him laugh with those little pouts and her the sight of those sapphire eyes was enough to brighten up his day. Sighing he placed one of hands over her own when a sudden knock on the door grabbed their attention.

"It's open..." Mira shouted causing the door to slowly open, the young mage in her late teens stepped thorugh the open door, the waist-length salmon hair was the first to get noticed by Laxus and Mira followed by the familiar chocolate-brown eyes.

"You wanted to see me...?" She asked as she started to walk forward.

Laxus nodded, gesturing to the vacant hair in front of the desk, she sat there silently for a moment taking the occasional glance around the office before Mira spoke.

"So what do you call yourself...?" Mira asked, a small smile appearing on her lips.

"Azalea" She answered

Mira nodded her head and then turned to Laxus and they both instantly thought the same thing; if she went by the name 'Azalea' now the Fairy Tail mages just might have a chance of helping her regaining her lost memories.

"I want to offer you a deal..." Laxus started

Azalea tilted her head to the side "What kind of deal?" she asked, suddenly becoming interested

Laxus turned to Mira "Well we heard that you lost your memories of the first twelve years of your life..." Mira stated

Azalea was confused, the young mage didn't know where the conversation was heading "And..." She asked

Mira turned to Laxus and nodded before he spoke "You stay here for two weeks and if you don't gain any memories of the first twelve years of your life then you can leave"

"What happens if I remember something...?" She asked

"Then you decide what happens from there..."

Azalea was silent for a moment, she knew she had nothing to lose; she had no memories, Sinclair was gone...so why not.

"Okay..." She said as she gave a nod causing Laxus to throw her a set of keys. She glanced down at the piece of metal as if something was going to pop out of it.

Mira noticing her confused state explained to the salmon haired mage what the kesy were for "You can stay at Fairy Hills...I'm sure one of the girls will show you where it is" Mira added with a smile.

Azalea nodded before she stood up "Thank you"

Laxus was silent, causing his wife to nudge him "...don't worry about it.." He muttered causing her to give a nod before she walked out of the door.

"She has her eyes..." Mira said sadly once she was certain that Azalea was out of hearing range.

Laxus nodded "Yeah...and his hair"

Mira chuckled "Yeah...I just hope that when they get back that they can become a family again...it's been too long" She added with a hint of sadness.

Laxus stood up wrapping his arms around her middle "I know...but I wonder where she has actually been the past five years"

"Yeah me too...but a lot can happen over five years"

* * *

_**What did you think of that?**_

_**Stay tuned for the nest chapter 'Lights out'**_

_**JustAnotherFairy :)**_


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